Richard Houghton has expanded his earlier book, All Our Loving, about Beatles fan recollections.
His updated book of Beatle fan memories entitled “All Our Loving” The Beatles, has been published and features many additional stories from the era that had no internet or cell phones and where memories were stored in fan’s memory cells not on hard drives or iPhones! Fan recollections emphasize the mass worldwide appeal of the band and the common threads that gave that beautiful sense of community in bringing people together from so many different backgrounds
This expanded book contains a significant amount of additional amount of stories from the original edition of the volume and it is thoroughly entertaining!
Written on their tour in May 1960, this is the Johnny Gentle song for which John Lennon wrote the middle 8 bars of the song, without ever having received official songwriting credit! Gentle just asked for help with the middle of the song and John Lennon wrote the middle 8 very quickly and simply gave it to him without any flinching, and never required any credit be given to him for his contribution!
Though not related to Mal, there was another person with the surname of Evans that was to touch the lives of the Beatles – her name was Shirley Evans!
Shirley (Surely) you jest – or just play the Accordion!!!
As you are aware, as a collector of Beatles print-related material, I also collect the signatures of people that may have played a role, however small, in their story. When the Beatles did their Magical Mystery Tour movie, they also wrote some incidental music for the film that did not appear on the official recording. From her obituary in the Guardian written by Phil Davison written and posted on Sun Sep 2010 12.42 EDT:
“John Lennon wrote an instrumental in her honour, “Shirley’s Wild Accordion”, with Evans playing the accordion, Paul McCartney on maracas and yelling “Go on, Shirl!”, Ringo Starr on drums and Evans’s then husband, Reg Wale, on percussion. Intended for the Magical Mystery Tour film and album, it was recorded at the De Lane Lea studios, with Lennon credited as producer of a Beatles’ track for the first time. Although Lennon told Evans he hoped the track would make her a fortune, it was cut from the film. An unknown number of copies of “Shirley’s Wild Accordion” were pressed, but the track was never released and is believed to be still languishing in archives. It remains much sought after by Beatles completists.”
Someone since that obituary has posted her recording of the song on YouTube. Prior to her passing in 2010, Shirley had issued a CD a few years back that appeared on eBay and signed so I purchased it for the collection. It is packed away currently so unfortunately the signature can’t be shown on this particular post. Shirley appears on the Magical Mystery Tour Bus in the movie!
John watching Shirley as she records her bit for the movie (Not sure who took this photo-so if you can help with attribution, we can update with proper acknowledgement).
Bought this on eBay several years ago a cd that was signed by Shirley!
This bio summary was included in the cd package:
Here are some details about Shirley’s life:Accordion Memorials – Shirley Evans (accordions.com) According to some reports Shirley had written a book: According to the link above: “She had for many years lived in Florida, working as a show business agent. Prior to her passing, Shirley had written ‘The Beatles and Me – and Shirley’s Wild Accordion’, a book which is as yet, unpublished.”
What an amazing story! Had you heard of Shirley and her Accordion before?
I remember writing to the publisher (WYMER) of sensationalist journalist DON SHORT several years ago inquiring about purchasing a signed copy of his book and I was successful in that venture as you can see in the pictures shown below. I am including photos of both the book and the signature on this post. Short was often given access to the Beatles through Brian Epstein and John Lennon often referred to him in many interviews that he gave over the years. Short wrote numerous articles about the Beatles including one very revealing story about John Lennon and his dad Freddie, when Short attempted to reconcile the two men. Mr. Short passed away in May of 2023.
A short biography (no pun intended) appearing in Wikipedia
The signature of the late Don Short: According to Mr. Short’s note to me from 2020, I was apparently the first purchaser of the book in the United States.
Don Short’s Autograph in his book
The back cover of his book:
Back of Don Short’s Book
Buzz – don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already!
Don’t Worry Kyoko – the coat! The UK company called TRACKS is a wonderful place to track down Beatles-related memorabilia. My collecting interests are usually restricted to print items that have some type of Beatles connection, but in this case I got a bit of both. I got one of Kyoko Chan Cox’s (Yoko’s daughter with Tony Cox) Apple ‘Fool ‘designed children’s coats along with a signed letter of verification from her dad, Anthony (Tony Cox) verifying that it indeed was an Apple-designed coat that Kyoko owned as a child.
Kyoko was present at many notable Lennon/ Ono news events like the Bed-In for Peace, and Kyoko was also in the auto accident when John was driving to Scotland when he, Julian, Kyoko, and Yoko were involved in an auto mishap due to John’s terrible driving skills.
Would love to trace down a signature of Kyoko’s for my Beatles-related signature collection but I am aware that she leads a very private life and must respect that decision. Kyoko married and became the mother of two children, Emi and Jack. Jack has backed his uncle Sean on bass on a couple of his recordings including the recording of “Isolation” that was posted on YouTube and appears as a link below. Kyoko now sees her mom on a much more frequent basis than she was able to as a child.
TRACKS memorabilia may be on the more expensive side of the ledger but at least the buyer can be assured of a quality item and one whose authenticity the company has pledged to stand behind….. Hope you enjoy the items I am sharing with you now!
The Fool-designed coat from the Apple clothing store on Baker Street. You can see the Apple patch in the neck area of the coat:
The Coat Designed by The Fool Which Kyoko Wore
Here is the signed letter from Tony Cox, Kyoko’s dad and Yoko’s second husband:
Letter from Tony Cox
Sean Lennon with his nephew Jack, Kyoko’s son, on bass:
Someone also posted this rare excerpt footage on YouTube of the Plastic Ono Band at the Lyceum ballroom where the band played versions of “Cold Turkey” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko”. I wonder if footage of the full performances exist?
John Lennon was to star with Michael Crawford in the anti-war film satire directed by Richard Lester entitled How I Won the War. This was to be a very productive period for John, as he was also to compose one of his masterpieces “Strawberry Fields Forever” in Almeria , Spain during the filming of the movie.
The book:
London: Century, 1999
Michael Crawford
Crawford’s signature in the book
Michael Crawford’s Signature
Back Cover of Crawford’s book
Back Cover of Crawford’s Book
John Lennon as Musketeer Gripweed and Michael Crawford as Lieutenant Earnest Goodbody:
Was able to acquire a special edition DVD of the film on Ebay which also had a mini magazine of photos taken from the film
Photos from How I Won The War
The paperback version of the book by Patrick Ryan released in 1967 and published by Ballantine books:
The Novel – How I Won The War
Michael Crawford, of course, was to ascend to superstardom status in his role of the Phantom in the Andrew Lloyd Webber smash hit musical of the “Phantom of the Opera.”
Have you watched the film? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.
