JOHN LENNON IS JUST AS POPULAR AS JESUS, IN GRACE’S (11) EYES
On the 1st July 1969 John Lennon crashed his Austin Maxi near Tongue whilst driving Yoko Ono and two of their children on a family visit to John’s childhood family holiday home in Durness. After being pulled out of a field by local policemen, the family were moved to Golspie Hospital.
You can imagine the headlines in the National and Local press, goldust for local newspapers like the Northern Times. I can only imagine how big a story this would be in today’s world of 24hr news and Social Media!
Take your mind to the end of the 60s and the height of Beatles fame – who were in the middle of recording Abbey Road at the time. That’s where Grace, 11, found herself – living in Golspie whilst the worlds biggest pop star is in hospital where your best friend’s mum worked as a Nurse.
How would you react, what would you do ?
Aye you guessed it; Grace asked her best friends mum to kindly get her an autograph from her idol.
Nurse Fraser managed to obtain said autograph and it is believed to be one of only two autographs obtained whilst he and Yoko Ono were in hospital. The other was signed on Hospital Letterhead and is for sale on the internet for £10,000.
You can imagine the delight Grace had having an autograph from her idol; but it wasn’t enough, she had to see him in the flesh, with her own eyes.
Using her connections through Nurse Fraser, she got into the Hospital and outside the room that John Lennon and Yoko Ono were recuperating in.
She stood outside the door and describes seeing John Lennon sitting up in bed next to the window, Yoko sitting in bed next to him – this is 2 years before the iconic video to Imagine (!).
John Lennon had part of his head shaved and she could hardly see Yoko who’s nose was sticking out from her big head of hair. Little did Grace know that her idol had received 17 facial stitches and Ono 14 in her forehead.
Grace was just overjoyed she had finally seen her idol in the flesh, in her town of Golspie. Memories she would cherish for the next 56 years and listening to her recount the story in the audio recording we have for the eventual buyer of the signature, you can hear the 67 year old woman turn back into that 11 year old girl full of wonder and adventure.
What next, what does an 11 year old do with her most treasured possession ? You listen to Dad, do what he says – he advised her to place the autograph in the family bible and that’s exactly where it has been for 56 years.
Proving that John Lennon was just as popular as Jesus after all!
Other links of interest
Video from BBC Scotland Facebook Page on 6 October 2019 of the Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs programme – where they describe the affiliation with Durness and the car crash.
JOHN LENNON IS JUST AS POPULAR AS JESUS, IN GRACE’S (11) EYES
On the 1st July 1969 John Lennon crashed his Austin Maxi near Tongue whilst driving Yoko Ono and two of their children on a family visit to John’s childhood family holiday home in Durness. After being pulled out of a field by local policemen, the family were moved to Golspie Hospital.
You can imagine the headlines in the National and Local press, goldust for local newspapers like the Northern Times. I can only imagine how big a story this would be in today’s world of 24hr news and Social Media!
Take your mind to the end of the 60s and the height of Beatles fame – who were in the middle of recording Abbey Road at the time. That’s where Grace, 11, found herself – living in Golspie whilst the worlds biggest pop star is in hospital where your best friend’s mum worked as a Nurse.
How would you react, what would you do ?
Aye you guessed it; Grace asked her best friends mum to kindly get her an autograph from her idol.
Nurse Fraser managed to obtain said autograph and it is believed to be one of only two autographs obtained whilst he and Yoko Ono were in hospital. The other was signed on Hospital Letterhead and is for sale on the internet for £10,000.
You can imagine the delight Grace had having an autograph from her idol; but it wasn’t enough, she had to see him in the flesh, with her own eyes.
Using her connections through Nurse Fraser, she got into the Hospital and outside the room that John Lennon and Yoko Ono were recuperating in.
She stood outside the door and describes seeing John Lennon sitting up in bed next to the window, Yoko sitting in bed next to him – this is 2 years before the iconic video to Imagine (!).
John Lennon had part of his head shaved and she could hardly see Yoko who’s nose was sticking out from her big head of hair. Little did Grace know that her idol had received 17 facial stitches and Ono 14 in her forehead.
Grace was just overjoyed she had finally seen her idol in the flesh, in her town of Golspie. Memories she would cherish for the next 56 years and listening to her recount the story in the audio recording we have for the eventual buyer of the signature, you can hear the 67 year old woman turn back into that 11 year old girl full of wonder and adventure.
What next, what does an 11 year old do with her most treasured possession ? You listen to Dad, do what he says – he advised her to place the autograph in the family bible and that’s exactly where it has been for 56 years.
Proving that John Lennon was just as popular as Jesus after all!
Other links of interest
Video from BBC Scotland Facebook Page on 6 October 2019 of the Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs programme – where they describe the affiliation with Durness and the car crash.
