Lennon Writty

 Lennon Writty

By Barb Chappel

Around the Beatle fan club newsletter

January 1968

 

Hello, all you Beatles Friends and Family (BFAF).  Don’t know how to start, but here it goes.  Thank you, Jeri for asking me to write every month.  It’s an honor and you’re a great friend.  Mates, you are now embarking upon my adventures in Jolly Ole and meeting with John, Paul, George, and Ringo – or trying to!  Have you ever tried to catch J.W.L.?  Nearly impossible!  He’s always son the move.  I even had an expected appointment on October 6.  I went up to Johns for the first time on October 2 and was given a ride to his door.  Leave it to John mind you, the front door happens to be the back door!  A bloke answered the door and said he’d tell John I’d be there on Friday.  On October 6 I walked and trekked up his walk.  It was lined with beautiful red flowers.  His housekeeper came to the door and said he wasn’t home again.  I gave her the flowers for Cyn’s birthday and talked to her for 20 minutes.  Then, since I had no way back, she let me use the telephone by the kitchen sink.  I keep pinching myself.  I used his phone!  Bet you’re wondering what John’s house looks like.  Well, it’s indescribable almost.  The living room is dark green with a settee (sofa) chair and stool, and lots o little kittens sleeping.   I saw Mimi, Neil, and Mel.  Mimi is black and white.  Weybridge is a lovely place, peaceful and quiet.  Julian’s cart was by the gate.  Wonder where the white horses were.  I saw Julian at Heath House. There he was sitting as good as gold, his big brown eyes looked at me and I smiled right back.  He takes after his daddy.  We’ve got another John Lennon on our hands.  To top it off, the other day a letter came for me from JOHN.  Imagine that.  Sometimes I can’t believe what’s happening to me.  He told me he was busy on his film and to wait a while before wandering up again.  He was pleased I wanted to come so badly.  Nice to him, huh?  Wonder where he got that idea.  I only went there 7 times…. 

 

P.S.  Anyone going to John’s go before 2pm, before he goes out. 

Memo for Dot

I love seeing John Lennon's handwriting.   Even a mundane note like this one to his housekeeper is pretty amazing!

A day with Julian at the park

These photos are from Dot Jarett's collection and are being sold tomorrow by Omega auctions.

Wednesday Reviews: John Lennon's Tooth (an ebook)

I am sure that we all have heard about John Lennon's tooth that sold for a little over $31,000 at an auction a few years ago.  The story was that John Lennon had a bad tooth, and he pulled it himself (ouch!) and asked his housekeeper, Dot, to get rid of it for him.  Dot asked if he would mind if she gave the tooth to her Beatlemaniac Daughter, Anne, and John said that he didn't care what she did with the tooth.  And so many years later, Dot put this tooth up for auction.

That is where the book John Lennon's Tooth Mr. Bonzai  (the pen name for David Goggin) starts.  Like the rest of us, David read about the tooth going up for auction, but the part of the story that interested him was the fact that Dot was still alive!   He had wanted to thank the famous housekeeper since 1967 for the amazing opportunity she gave him to meet John Lennon.

Dot and her daughter, Ann (photo from the book John Lennon's Tooth)

This ebook has nothing to do with John Lennon's tooth, and if you ask me, it is a terrible title for a book. It is actually two stories interwoven between chapters. The first is the story of David Goggin, which I have mentioned before on this blog.

Without giving too much of the story away, David was a Beatle fan who traveled to 1967 to "study abroad."  Like many fans, the reason for studying abroad was to meet the Beatles. He went to Kenwood in September and knocked on the door. Dot told him that John was sleeping and asked him to wait in the garage (with the yellow Rolls).

John comes out and sees David in the garage, and he invites David inside the house for tea while he eats his breakfast! The story could have ended right there, and it would have been an amazing story. But there is more! 

David ends up being invited to go along with Peter Brown and John to pick up George Harrison and ride into London for the appearance on the David Frost show. So here, this Beatles fan is riding in a car with two of the Beatles and talking about all sorts of things. From there, he was invited into the recording studio while all four Beatles were working on "I Am the Walrus."

It really is an amazing story, and David got the Beatles autograph in a notebook. 

The Beatles' autograph for David Goggin (taken from the book John Lennon's Tooth)

The second part of the story is that of Dorthy Jarrett, who was John and Cynthia's housekeeper/nanny at Kenwood.   Aunt Dot (as John called her) tells her story to David for the book about how she got hired, how she gave John Lennon driving lessons (bless her heart!), about Julian Lennon's birthday party she held when the Lennons were in India (and how Julian didn't recognize Daddy when he returned from the trip), and many, many more stories.

This book seems like it was written in a hurry.  Like David just wanted to get his story and Dot's story out there as quickly as possible and didn't put a lot of work into making his stories better.  I would have liked to have read more details in his meeting with the Beatles. He barely mentioned Paul at all. 

Having said that----the book is pretty neat.  His story of meeting the Beatles is amazing.  And as far as I know, this book is the only place where you can read Dot's stories of working for John.

It is only available as an ebook through Amazon.  However, John Lennon's Tooth only costs 99 cents!   It is a pretty short book, but for under a dollar, you can't go wrong!


The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3wSp1WR

Floating down stream

A lot of people had an opportunity to meet Paul McCartney the day this photo was taken, although most likely they had no clue who he was!  If you look closely you will see Paul and his then girlfriend, Dot, in this photo.  It was taken in Hamburg in 1961.