Give me a Chance: Book Review

Some stories of meeting one or more of the Beatles takes more than just a magazine article to write and such is the story of when Gail Renard met John and Yoko during the Montreal bed-in in 1969. Her story spans 8 wonderful days, and she has written a fabulous book about her days with the couple called Give me a Chance. I had the pleasure of just reading this book and I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share the information about this book with all of you.

In 1969 Gail was a typical 17 year old Beatle fan living in Montreal, Quebec. She was a member of the fan club, bought all the records, watched them on T.V., etc etc. John was her favorite member of the band and so when she heard that John and his new wife, Yoko were going to be arriving in her town, she HAD TO see him! Never did she dream that she would find herself in his suite! At first she had just planned on interviewing him for her school paper, which would have been awesome enough, but after the interview John asked her to come back for the rest of the Bed In! Her job was to watch Kyoko, help Derek Taylor answer the telephones and help organize radio interviews (because she was familiar with the local radio and television stations). But she also was able to spend time just hanging out with John and Yoko and talking to them.

One of the highlights for me in this book was when she talked about watching the movie, A Hard Day's Night with John! What a surreal experience that had to have been! Gail was also present for the writing and recording of the peace anthem, "Give Peace a Chance."

Those of you who have read Beatle Book Monthly issues may remember reading her story in one of the later 1969 issues. (I did). Well in the book, she tells the story about how John set it all up for her to write that story for the magazine. It is really amazing!

This book was a quick read and just a story that is so amazing that as a Beatle fan, you have to read it! Gail also has some really rare photos that she took of the Bed-in that are worth getting the book as well. If you would like to purchase a copy, you can buy it off of Amazon or you can did like I did and order directly off her website and Gail will sign a copy of the book for you.


Oh, when I contacted Gail and told her that I wanted to post on this blog about her book, she gave me permission to use the photograph of her and John as well as the cover of her book. She asked that it only be used on this blog. Please respect her wishes and do not post the photo elsewhere.