Stortfordian Stories - Andy Peebles (GH,HH, 1960-66)

John Lennon's last interview

In September 1960 when I arrived in Grimwade House no one had heard of the Beatles. By the time I had joined main school in 1963 they were well on the way to becoming the most famous pop group in history.  

John Lennon was my favourite Beatle - I can still see the look on Paul McCartney's angelic face when I told him - and remained so because of his wit & rebellious demeanor which hugely appealed to me.  

My mother, an adorable snob, refused to buy me a copy of "Please Please Me", the band's first LP, because, as she said,"Just look at them!" I told John this over dinner in New York in December 1980 & he roared with laughter when I said she was lucky that I wasn't entranced by The Pretty Things, whose singer Phil May had hair which made the Beatles look as though they had been given crewcuts

And so on Saturday Dec 6th at 5.50pm EST we arrived at the Hit Factory Recording Studio on Manhattan's Westside. In my professional career I had never been so nervous even though I had conducted hundreds of interviews including three Prime Ministers & The Duke Of Edinburgh. There stood my hero & within five minutes he had made me feel as though we had been friends for years. 3hours & 22 minutes is the longest interview I have ever conducted & this was followed by dinner at Mr Chow's.

The conversation over dinner included John's genuine interest in which of Lennon & McCartney's songs had been performed by The Rivals, the BSC group in which I played the role of Ringo!

We parted company with a massive hug & a promise that he would appear on my Radio One morning show in February 1981 when he planned to come home to England for the first time in years.

Less than 48 hours later John lay dying on the pavement outside his beloved Dakota apartment. It represented one of the shortest friendships of my life but one that I am massively proud of, the high & low point of my 13 years with Radio One.

Four of us made the trip 40 years ago - only two of us survive. Gone to be with John are Doreen Davies, my Executive Producer & Bill Fowler, Head of Promotion for Warner Brothers Records, who had set the whole trip up. My producer, Paul Williams & I are still in touch & will never forget those five days in the city that never sleeps. 

Having arrived on Thursday we watched David Bowie at the Booth Theatre, off Broadway, on the Friday night. His portrayal of The Elephant Man, dressed only in a loin cloth, was sheer class & would have thrilled his mime mentor, Lindsay Kemp. 

I interviewed David at RCA Studios on the Sunday afternoon & didn't see him again until he walked up the ramp at Wembley for Live Aid. I had the pleasure of introducing him on stage.

Forty years may have passed but it still all seems indelibly etched into my memory.  

The last few weeks have seen me interviewed by such bastions of American broadcasting as CNN & CBS Morning plus a host of interviews here in lockdown Britain. I've turned down far more than I've done but I had to write this for you because without Bishop's Stortford College none of this would have happened. 

To finish, a quiz question - I live, and have done for nearly 30 years, in the only town in Britain to be mentioned in the lyrics of a Beatles song - I'll leave that with you then. Please stay very safe & my love to you all.

Andy Peebles
Grimwade House, Hayward House 1960-66
December 2020