The Night John and Yoko were in Town

Photos by Mervyn Clingan

 

The Night John and Yoko Were in Town

Author and newspaper unknown

Following my story on the visit by John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Rochester on Christmas Eve, 1969 I have heard from photographer Mervyn Clingan, who took pictures of them inside and outside Rochester Cathedral. 

He said, "I had just started with the press agency in London. I think I was the only photographer there. It was chaos. I think there were only two policemen on duty to control the crowds. The Lennons were hot news, of course, and there were hundreds there."

 Mervyn took pictures of the couple at midnight mass. He said they were just sitting there before the ceremony, and they fully participated in the service. "As I recall, they had a well known black rights leader with them."

 Research suggests this was the American civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory. Arthur Backshell, a hairdresser at the Cutting Crew on Rochester High Street, had different memories of the occasion. He said, "We were about 17 at the time, just silly teenagers, and I think we'd had a half of mild each, hardened drinkers that we thought we were. One of my mates tried to rush through the police cordon to get near John and Yoko, but the police grabbed him and shoved him inside a van. This was a chap called Dave Major who lived at The Tideway. He lives in Brighton now. I worked at a hairdresser's opposite the old police station at the time, and I knew the coppers on duty. I asked them if they would release Dave if we promised to make sure he behaved himself, and they did. But as we were walking along Rochester High Street, we saw John and Yoko's Rolls Royce parked right opposite where I now work. Dave Major made a dash for it and tried to sit on it, but the Lennon's minders intervened."

December 24, 1969