John and John
During his ‘Intermediate Course’ at Liverpool College of Art, John was obliged to study ‘Lettering’. He shared the lessons with Cynthia Powell, her friend Phyllis and Jonathan Hague.

John and Jonathan became good friends and John was later to buy him a house in Leamington Spa and sponsor an exhibition of his paintings in London. Jonathan has written to me with ten of the many memories he has of John:

(1). “I remember going to Art School and leaving John in that café at the bottom of the hill and meeting him there hours later – he was still sitting in the same seat!”

(2). “I remember Arthur Ballard used to take us every Monday morning for ‘Composition’ in a small room. He’d pin our pictures on the wall and give us a big ‘Crit’ on them, one at a time. They were the usual subjects such as ‘The Railway Station’, ‘A Restaurant’, ‘The Docks’, ‘Roadworkers’ etc. for some reason John managed to get away each week with one of his cartoon drawings. His ‘Docks’ had hundreds of little dockers climbing over a boat and his ‘Railway Station’ was a man’s foot disappearing down a staircase.’ Arthur must have liked them.”

(3). “I remember when the Beatles came to play in my home town Llandudno for a week in the ‘Twist And Shout’ days John went round everywhere in my little old Ford so no one would know him. Also, while at my mother’s one day for tea (she had a holiday guest), he and Paul amazed the guest by being waiters.”

(5). “John told me that the reason he chose Yoko to Cynthia was that he was involved with a creative life and it was important to come home to a woman who fed ideas, rather than the nice housewife.”

(6). “I remember when the Beatles used my flat a few times for practice – I always had to move out – the music seemed so bad.”

(7). “I remember John trying to talk me into buying a set of drums for about £200 – I never even considered it!”

(8). “John was always the entertainer at Art School. As an example – the atmosphere of the Life Class is always like that of a church where one sits in utter silence doing one’s serious drawings. John would start with the tiniest little noise, create a snigger, then let it get louder, bit by bit, ‘til he had turned the whole room into a disaster of people laughing.”

(9). “I remember the Metalwork teacher took John outside into the passageway one day to give him a telling off (he’d cut out some monster-type figure). I overheard what was said: “I want to be a pop star” and the teacher snapped “Be realistic!”

(10). “I remember John sending me a letter when I’d had an exhibition in Holland. He wrote: “Glad you are now a FAMOUS PAINTER – just like Arthur Ballard said you would be!”

Return to main section