Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Strange but True: Neil Aspinall and Mona Best





One of the stranger things that has came out over the years would be the relationship between Neil Aspinall and Mona Best.     Their relationship and child was hush-hush in Liverpool at the time with few people knowing the truth, although there were rumors going wild.      It wasn't until after Mona's death in 1988 that the story started to slowly get out and then 10 years later a book was published  that told about it.    And while today most fans know that Neil and Mona were an item, it is still an interesting footnote to Beatles history.


Neil Aspinall had been friends with Paul and George since they were in school together.   He and Paul were in the same class, but he was also friends with George and they both smoked their first cigarette together (ironically and sadly they both died as a result of smoking).     Neil went to school for accounting, but like most young guys during that time, enjoyed hearing music and would go hear his friends play at the Casbah Coffee Club, which was owned by Mona Best and her family.


To make extra money and since her home on Hayman's Green was very large, Mona would house boarders.    After getting to know Mona and her family, Neil became a boarder in their home.   In 1960 Neil was 19 years old and Mona was 36.

Mona Best was married to Johnny Best, who was a boxing promoter in Liverpool.   (Interestingly Rory  Best is the only  biological child of Mona and Johnny).     When the couple first met in India, Mona was studying to be a doctor.  Instead, she moved to Liverpool after her marriage to Best in 1944 and was a housewife.   It has been said that Johnny did not approve of Mona's carefree and what we now would think of as "feminist" ways.    She was independent and took it upon herself to purchase the large home on Hayman's Green by pawning jewelry and betting on a winning racehorse behind her husband's back.    She also opened the Casbah for teenagers in the cellar of their home without her husband's blessing.

By the time Neil came to live in the home, Johnny and Mona were somewhat separated.   Johnny was  traveling for his boxing job and was not home very often.   He refused to give Mona a divorce even though the couple had drifted apart.

No one knows for sure how or when the romantic relationship began between the two, or how much others knew about it.    Neil and Pete Best became close friends and along with the close friendship he had with Paul and George, he quit his accounting job and became the road manager for the Beatles, driving them to gigs.  

By the spring of 1962, it was obvious that Mona Best, who was 38, was excepting a baby.   This caused a lot of gossiping because everyone knew that Johnny had not been around in a very long time.  However, no one questioned Mona about the baby.   Victor  Roag Best was born on July 21, 1962.    Wanting to make sure that her child was legitimate, Mona decided to list Johnny Best as the child's father and give him the same surname as everyone else in the family  

However, another big change was about to happen in the Best family when on August 16, 1962, Pete Best was fired from the Beatles.    Neil was with Pete at the time of the sacking and the two had some pints in the Grapes afterwards to drown their sorrows.     Brian Epstein assumed that Neil would pledge his allegiance to the Best family (and who would have blamed him?) and lined up a new man to take Neil's place as the Beatles' road manager.    However, Neil remained friends with Pete and involved with Mona and still worked for the Beatles.

Many things I have read said that Neil moved out of Mona's home and they broke up directly after Pete was out of the Beatles, however I am not sure if that is totally correct.     Neil may have moved out of the home, however he still was there often.    He would store the Beatles' equipment in the home and at times John, Paul, George and Ringo would be sitting in the van outside of the house while Neil ran inside to grab some equipment.

Once Neil came to London, his relationship with Mona did not end.    There are several stories about Mona coming and visiting Neil at his flat in 1963.    But the relationship between them was over for good once Neil met Suzy in 1964.   They were married in 1968 and remained married for 40 years until Neil's death.

Strangely, even though Mona was very vocal about how upset she was about the Beatles' sacking her son and she blamed it all on the jealousy of the others because of Pete's good looks, she STILL remained on friendly terms with the Fab 4.    And while none of the Beatles spoke to Pete Best after he was sacked, they still spoke to his mother.    Mona loaned John Lennon her father's war medals, which he wore on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album.    John was so thankful that he returned the medals along with the music award that is also seen on the cover and the same year they also sent her an "All you Need is Love" doll.     Maybe the fact that Mona was the mother of Neil's son had something to do with this?

For many year Roag denied the rumors that Neil Aspinall was his father.    But in recent years, Roag  has been very proud to say that he is the son of Mona Best and Neil Aspinall.

The ins and outs of the Beatles' circle is enough that a soap opera could have been written about it!

20 comments:

  1. I think Mona already had Pete when she met Johnny Best. His father, another Englishmen, having died or at least out of the picture. Johnny adopted Pete. Their only natural child being brother Rory.

    ReplyDelete
  2. She looks a bit like Alicia Keys in that pic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She's Indian or Half, I don't care what anybody says...and that's gotta be a Story in itself that will never be told

      Delete
    2. Not sure why you think the story will never be told, Michael. Mona's birth records (1924 in India) and the marriage of her parents (1910 in India), her mother's birth and the marriage of the mother's parents all freely available on FindMyPast - and that's just 10 minutes searching. It wouldn't take much effort to find who in the family is native Indian.

      Delete
    3. I'm sorry, but that was STILL his friend's mother! You don't do THAT to your friends!

      Delete
    4. While it is true that Mona's family tree records are available, it does not mean that Mona was a daughter of the man whom her mom was married to. Her mom could have cheated on her husband with an Indian man and got pregnant by him.

      Delete
  3. Landlady - tenant relationships even with considerable age difference are not uncommon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True---however I think it is odd that Neil continued to work for the Beatles after what happened to Pete. It is just a strange dynamic in the Beatles story that I personally find odd.

      Delete
  4. Mona was much like John's mom Julia in many ways. But John and Mona weren't all that close either.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I might be Mistaken, but I think I read somewhere that Mona first two boys had two different Fathers - Roag the 3rd being Neil's Son. This is very much like Julia who had 3 sets of Children( John Being the First) by 3 Different Fathers as Well.
    The Mona Neil Thing is very interesting...Plus Neil was a OK Father to Roag, but didn't talk any Beatle stuff with him until the 1995 (93 or so) Anthology.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I might be Mistaken, but I think I read somewhere that Mona first two boys had two different Fathers - Roag the 3rd being Neil's Son. This is very much like Julia who had 3 sets of Children( John Being the First) by 3 Different Fathers as Well.
    The Mona Neil Thing is very interesting...Plus Neil was a OK Father to Roag, but didn't talk any Beatle stuff with him until the 1995 (93 or so) Anthology.

    ReplyDelete
  7. very interesting story and a beautiful looking woman from the picture

    ReplyDelete
  8. Excellent story thanks and supports some of the apparent circumstances of Pete's sacking. I was not aware that Neil was with Pete at the time of the sacking as I understood from Billy Kinsley from the Merseybeats that Pete came down in the lift alone from Epstein's office. ( Merseybeats were waiting to see Epstein while Pete was in the office with Epstein) I can assume then that Neil might have been around waiting for Pete but not actually with him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe he stayed talking
      To brian in the office
      And came down later

      Probably telling Brian
      How fucking cowardly
      He and the guys fired
      Pete!

      Hell,

      I know i would have
      JesseRock
      Wed/aug/5/2020
      1pm

      Delete
  9. I spoke to Pete about his mother several years ago. He appeared to have been very close to her. They were each other's greatest supporters. She was an extraordinary lady!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I found out about Neil and Mona (and Roag) a couple of years ago. Still blows my mind.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I took my son to Liverpool from Australia in 2007 and the radio said the Casbah Club (which I hadn't heard of before) had just reopened. It wasn't open that day but I talked the guy on the phone into letting us in. He took us around for over an hour, and when I asked his connection to the house he said he was Pete's brother Roag Best. When I said he looked very young to be Pete's brother, he said his father was Neil Aspinall - a name I was very familiar with. So I said that made him famous twice...

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't see any resemblance. Roag being Neils biological son just makes no sense.

    ReplyDelete
  13. You don't see any resemblance ? Are you serious ? Take another look. They look exactly alike.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I had a personal tour by Roag Best at the Casbah Coffee Club in June 2014. When I shook Roag’s hand on greeting I affirmed that Neil Aspinall was his father. Road gave me a discerning look of “where are you going with this”. He reluctantly said yes. I shook his hand again and enthusiastically told him he was part of the Beatles history and I needed to shake his hand again. I like to think I played a part in taking more pride in his relationship with his father and his place in Beatles history.

    ReplyDelete