Ivan Vaughan

A close friend of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who lived in Vale Street in the Woolton area of Liverpool with his widowed mother. Their rear garden backed on to Mendips, where John lived with his Aunt Mimi. They also lived close to Pete Shotton and Nigel Whalley and all four became a close-knit gang.

When he was six years old, Ivan went to Dovedale Primary School, as did John. Later John went to Quarry Bank School, while Ivan attended Liverpool Institute.

Ivan had the same madcap sense of humour as John and they both loved ‘The Goon Show’. When John invited him to join the Quarry Men on tea-chest bass, Ivan painted ‘I’ve the Jive, the Ace on the Bass’ on his instrument, although he alternated with Nigel Whalley, until Len Garry replaced them both. At the Institute Ivan was in the same class as Paul (they were both born on the same day).

Ivan’s behaviour was eccentric, to say the least. One day when his mother wasn’t home, he painted his name in letters three-foot high right across the front of the house. Pupils at the Institute had to wear regulation black shoes, but one day Ivan arrived at school having coloured his shoes with thick dollops of canary yellow paint.

Another time he left off his Institute uniform and entered Quarry Bank with John. Ivan said he was a new student and was given a set of textbooks and told to join the class. When the headmaster heard of it he reported the incident to the Institute headmaster, who only mildly chastised him.

Ivan also played truant quite often and would forge notes from his mother stating that he hadn’t been able to attend because she couldn’t afford to buy him new shoes!

Institute old boy Peter Sissons was to comment: "John Lennon was a highly original character, but in my opinion, much of the outrageousness and unpredictability he displayed later in life came from Ivan Vaughan and not the other way round".

One day Ivan asked Paul if he’d like to come along and watch his skiffle group play at a church fete. Paul wasn’t particularly struck on the idea, but Ivan said that it would be a great place to pick up girls, so the two of them cycled along that afternoon. The date was 6th July 1957 and after the Quarry Men’s first set Ivan took Paul into the Church Hall and introduced him to John.

He considered Paul to be talented and said: "I only ever brought great fellows to meet John".

A week later, when Paul was cycling to Ivan’s house, he met Pete Shotton, who asked him if he’d like to join the group.

Over the years, Ivan kept in touch with his friends, particularly Paul and John. He was a Cambridge graduate and became a teacher and studied educational psychology.

He regularly visited them, travelled to America with them and was present at the time of the Sgt. Pepper sessions. When Apple was launched, The Beatles suggested that Ivan and Jan, his schoolteacher wife, head the proposed Apple School. Ivan was given an advance payment of £10,000, but it was decided that the idea was premature and the scheme was dropped.

Sadly, during the 1970s Ivan contracted Parkinson’s Disease, for which there is no known cure. Deciding not to simply accept the situation, he began to battle against the disease, using himself as a guinea pig for new drugs and mercilessly knocking his limbs against solid objects when they refused to respond.

Jonathan Miller heard of his remarkable and courageous struggle and produced a documentary, simply called Ivan, which was transmitted on BBC2 TV on 3rd December 1984 as part of the Horizon series. Paul allowed his song ‘Blackbird’ to be played at the beginning and end of the programme free of charge. Paul invited Ivan to spend Christmas 1984 with the McCartney’s at their home in Sussex and continued to keep in touch until Ivan’s death.

Of the documentary, which centered on a day in his life, Ivan commented: "I decided to make my illness my hobby. Not as something useful. Not to help thousands. Just selfishly, to find out all I could about it and its implications. I wanted to explore it, to play with it, and even to laugh about it".

His book, ‘Ivan: Living with Parkinson’s Disease’ was published in 1986. Tragically, Ivan died in 1994. His death touched Paul so deeply that he began to write poetry for the first time since he was a child.

Copyright: Bill Harry, from 'The Beatles Encyclopedia', published by Virgin Publications.

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