Pete Shotton seems very sincere in comments about his relationship with John. I found him very articulate, intelligent and sensitive. John had a really good mate in Pete....

I read Pete's book years ago & always remembered how their endearing friendship was a lifelong caring one. Rest in Peace John & Pete.

I can tell, even from these interviews that Pete was very honest & also consciously cautious about talking about his relationship with John. I admire that.

Wow - what a well spoken person.

He seems like a thoroughly decent bloke

I owned and read that book The Beatles, Lennon, and Me by Pete Shotton. I sure do wish I still owned a copy of that book. That was the genesis of my 15 year study of the Beatles and their members. ❤

His books amazing,great read,bought it on hols in america for 50c, didn't realise what I was buying I just liked the poster in the middle of it,turned out to be the best Beatles book if read,great insight from what appears to be a true gentleman.

VERY intelligent man. Pete Shotton a lovely friend for life.

When they became famous and wealthy , John and George bought a supermarket for Pete shotton to run. They loved him. He's sincere.

Pete seems like such a great guy. I read his book way back in the mid 80s when I was becoming an obsessive Beatles fan. It was quite the eye opener and remains one of the best books about them and John in particular. It's been used as a source for many of the books to come since including that hatchet job of Goldman.

fantastic interview I'm so happy that john kept in touch with his real friends it says a lot about john!!!

Wow, Pete turned out to be a handsome fella! i like the way he speaks of John and the band, his fondness for him!!

Another great part of Peter's book is when he talks about John writing the song "In My Life". He mentions the line about "for people and things that have gone before/I know I'll often stop and think about them" and John mentioned Stuart Sutcliffe. He also told Pete "You know I love you, too, Pete, but I really miss Stuart." If you go back through the history of The Beatles, even after his death there are references to Stuart Sutcliffe. He shows up on the "Sgt. Pepper" album and again on the "Anthology" album. And, no doubt, he is one of those people referenced in the lyrics of "In My Life". John never forgot about Stuart and I think it could be argued that as close as he was to Paul McCartney that Stuart Sutcliffe probably was the best friend he ever had.

john told him to cash in early on the beatles fame...interesting..shows what a great guy (even tho he had bad streaks) he was...he wanted his friend to do well too...i believe he bought him a grocery store too..

Yes people I bought him a Grocery store / supermarket... he deserved it I helped out a lot of friends .... he is great.

You can feel the love he had for that man. If you have one friend like that in the end you have done alright.

Pete actually answered my email to him a few yrs before he died when I asked him a few questions about the day they met Paul McCartney at the church Fete...(he didn't quite remember) I can't remember how I got his email but he was very gracious to answer. John was good to Pete and set him up in a grocery business that carried him for decades.

I remember hearing the Beatles a month befor Ed Sullivan.I couldn’t wait till that Sunday night when they came on..What a time.

Very nice learning the truth about john and Yoko! She was his soulmate.

This is so fascinating. I'm so glad Pete did this interview. Thank you Pete.

I like the interviewer: "...they did some straaaange things together." - Yeah, like 'Give Peace A Chance' was strange. Yeah. Right.

Thanks fer posting this gem of memories of John by his friend Pete.

hey Mike, thank you so much for that wonderful post. I had never seen it before. love to you. cheers!

I played guitar with John Lennon round at Pete Shottons house when we were at school together

Really enjoyed reading Pete's book and recommend it

Shout ..this book which I haven't read and Pete Bests book are a great Pre-qual to a good 4 day stay in Liverpool. Visiting those places in the books is quite worth doing. We first went in 1991 and then another time after then last time around 2010. Taking notes before hand and seeking out those places..the one place we regret to have not visited is Pete Bests house where they played in the Club (Casbah)..while there a visit to some Historic sites is good and the Walker Art Museum & the Lady Lever.

I think Pete was an anchor for John, it's all in his song Help.

Do yourself a favour and get this guys book !! Amazing read

Yeah, it's a great book, a story of a lifelong deep friendship. "In My Life" is the title, but it's been out of print for ages.

It was already out of print by the time I first read it. I had the good fotune of finding a copy at Beatle Fest 1992 (don't think they're still doing that). There was a small stack of copies on a table in the far corner of the flea market portion. They were being sold for $5 each. I was a virtually broke 16-year-old, but I still would have paid far more than that.

Pete Shotton: the inspiration for Blondie!

RIP Pete Shotton

i have a copy of this book and its GREAT

Great insight about why he liked Yoko so much...

Very articulate good man.

Hmm...I wasn't aware pete has a book out. Why did John take drugs? To search for different perspectives in his thinking/feelings/creativity. What did Yoko have? A similar intellect. In John's eyes she was his Japanese "princess".

@fantorjhs The title of the book is "In My Life".

I had always heard Pete describe as one of Lennon's best friends so I was really surprised at how negative his book was towards John. Pete also claims to have written some of the lyrics to Eleanor Rigby (he actually claims his contribution to the song was more than Lennons)

The crazy antics of John and Yoko were really just conceptual art. No one would have much noticed if it was just two conceptual artists doing it.

It sounds like he was a true friend of Johns......

I first read the book in 1990 and have read it a few times since. I never found it to be the least bit negative. Can you elaborate a bit?

Well said by Mr Shotton. Nobody has been able to explain Johns world so completely. Just a creative guy looking for an outlet to plug into, for the world he agreed with Yoko Ono.

A very articulate handsome fellow and probably a great draw to men and women.

Wow, this is a blast from the past. I lived in Quarry Street, not far from Mrs Shotton's grocery store. These guys were little ankle biters then. I was a Senior at John's school. Pete made a lot of money from a Supermarket chain he founded. (Fatty Arbuckles?) I don't know if John helped out with the cash. Last time I saw him was in Paphos, in 2007, judging a Karaoke contest. Poor guy was riddled with arthritis.

He bought him a supermarket in Hayling Island

This is interesting.

Yep.

Didn't John buy Peter Shotton a grocery store?

Isn't it "The Beatles Lennon and Me - the intimate insider's book" by Pete Shotton & Nicholas Schaffner?

Yoko Ono didn't break up The Beatles. The Beatles broke up The Beatles. It was a gradual split from within that slowly but surely was happening and you can trace the roots of it as far back as 1966/1967. They could have split up after "Revolver" and it would have been an amicable one, but they felt like there was still music left to do and so they did "Sgt. Pepper" yet George Harrison really didn't have his heart in it and he admitted that. After Brian's death they probably should have taken some time off, but they plunged headfirst into "Magical Mystery Tour" which was largely Paul's brainchild and the other three were more or less sidemen to Paul which became an increasing accusation over the next couple of years with The Beatles. I think that Paul gets unfairly blamed for the failure of "Magical Mystery Tour" because they were all involved with it, but he was pretty much in charge and the "de facto" director of the film. After that, Paul more or less became the de facto manager and I don't say that in a negative light because I don't think it was his intention. He just happened to be the most gung-ho in The Beatles about doing Beatles projects while the other three by that time were beginning to feel like it was time to put The Beatles to bed. And by the time "Abbey Road" was finished, both John and George were all but gone from the group. I think both of them saw it as the "swan song" for The Beatles and they were ready to move on. Paul wasn't. And I don't think Ringo was quite ready to move on either, but he was tired of the B.S. and the stress of the band. In hindsight, they probably should have taken a year or two off to do solo albums and then come back to do another Beatles album. But back then, when you were in a band and you suddenly decided to go solo, that usually meant the band was breaking up or you were leaving the group.

Was Peter also pals with Stuart Sutcliffe?

It wasn’t a normal existence for Julian as he pointed out himself when he got old enough to speak for himself. Julian was persecuted for being John’s son.

he is my great uncle

A real shame the interviewer hasn't done any research

The day Yoko kicks the bucket is when we'll find out a lot of things.

Why does Shotton not have a scouse accent like John? They grew up in the same environment.

YOKO DID IT

@guruuDev IT IS REFRESHING ISNT IT, WHEN SOMEONE ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO SPEAK..

Lots of boring questions that she could have asked anyone connected with John. She should have asked him more of the questions that Pete could have answered from his own unique perspective and view having been John’s real friend.

I'm surprised he doesn't have a Liverpool accent.

He told you any interesting stories?

he looks so different now

Yoko was similar to John's Aunty Mimi, strong and overpowering. I think that's what he subconsciously needed in his life but I believe he and Yoko treated Cynthia and Julian very badly. After John died Yoko denied Julian his inheritance for almost 16 years, what kind of a woman is that?

Yoko was johns replacement mommy.

Peter was a great guy and had a business brain. He made money for Lennon and paid him back. Ono never liked him though. He phoned John at The Dakota and he heard a lot of shouting and arguing in the background saying "he is not coming over". The home truth about Lennon is that outside him song writing everything he did was questionable. People want him to be this-that-and-the-other, but in reality he was quite rude and foul mouthed. Everyone has a story about how bad he could be on this bad days. What people don't get is that LSD split the music world, some people hated it some loved it. Lennon never liked being around people who didn't drug like him. Cynthia said he turned in to a zombie with it all. He was lucky he didn't go the way of Syd Barrett or Peter Green.

What attracted John to Yoko initially was she did not know he was a Beatle.

That awful American interviewer woman doesn't like Yoko muchly.

John got her girlfriend Cynthia pregnant. That’s why they got married. Not for love.

4:44 Johnny caught yellow fever . Though she wouldn't be interested if he didn't have the fame and especially the money

The host of this show is living proof that we had some seriously uptight and judgmental people around in the 80's