Honest John

John's Own Words About the Day He Met Paul

"There was a friend of mine called Ivan who lived at the back of my house and he went to the same school as Paul McCartney -- The Liverpool Institute High School. It was through Ivan that I first met Paul. Seems that he knew Paul was always dickering around in music and thought that he would be a good lad to have in the group.
So one day when we were playing at Woolton he brought him along. We can both remember it quite well. We've even got the date down. It was June 15th 1955. The Quarrymen were playing on a raised platform and there was a good crowd because it was a warm sunny day.
I'd been kingpen up to then. Now, I thought, if I take him on, what will happen? But he was good. He also looked like Elvis.
I had a group, I was the singer and the leader; I met Paul and made a decsion whether to -- and he made a descion too -- have him in the group; was it better to have a guy who was better than the people I had in, obviously, or not? To make the group stronger or to let me be stronger? That decision was to let Paul in and make the group stronger."