John Arnone  Topic: Us and Them: Canada, Canadians and The Beatles NEW updated book

Speaker details many links between Beatles, Canada

Bob Henderson introduced author John Robert Arnone whose topic was the story of the Beatles’ and their many connections to Canada.  John, who lives in Victoria Harbour, Ontario, is a self-confessed passionate Beatles’ fan and spent years researching ties between the Beatles and Canada.

John said that one of the Beatles’ first public performances was interrupted when a fight broke out between rowdy Canadian soldiers in the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany that required police and tear gas to quell. John’s quest to tell the Canadian side of the Beatles’ story began when he noticed errors in references to the Beatles’ appearances in this country during a tour of a Beatles museum in Liverpool.

John noted that George Harrison had both an uncle and sister living in Canada and John Lennon’s mother resided in Toronto.

John highlighted numerous Canadians who came into contact with the Beatles in the early days including Carrol Levis who hosted the Talent Discovery Show in the UK where the Quarrymen in 1957, with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, failed to impress.  The group changed its name to Johnny and the Moondogs and auditioned for the talent show again in 1959 but once again failed to impress. After Ringo Starr joined the group they encountered a woman from Hamilton in Mayfair, London who spiked their sugar cubes with LSD providing them with their first exposure to drugs.  Possibly as a result, their music evolved into classics like Strawberry Fields Forever and the Rubber Soul Album and the rest is history.

John’s book titled “Us and Them” details the long history of connections between the Beatles and Canadians including the Decker Dash at the Winnipeg airport when the Beatles’ plane stopped for refueling only to have the airport overrun by fans leading to the foursome stepping foot on Canadian soil for the first time. Harry Saltzman from St. John, N.B., long-time producer of James Bond films, passed on producing the first Beatle movie, A Hard Day’s Night in 1964.  One of the most interesting was Lillian Shirt, a Cree from Northern Alberta who was protesting housing opportunities for Indigenous peoples in Edmonton.  A local radio station contacted Lillian and said that John Lennon wanted to support her and had asked to speak to her.  When they spoke, she repeated words to John that her grandmother had often said to her.  These words were “Imagine if there was no hate, if we loved each other, loved one another, that there would be no war between us”. John asked for permission to use the words and they likely helped inspire Lennon’s famous song “Imagine”.

Duncan thanked John for speaking to the club and making us aware of these Canadians who were part of the Beatles legend of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.