Teacher claims John Lennon was a “a nuisance and a bully” during his school days
A teacher at John Lennon‘s former school has claimed that The Beatles legend was known for being “a nuisance and a bully” during his days as a student.
Between 1952 and 1957, Lennon was a student at the Quarry Bank high school in Liverpool which is now called Calderstones school. While Quarry Bank reportedly turned its back on Lennon for many years, they are now celebrating its former student.
The desk that was used by Lennon has now gone on display after being discovered in an attic at Calderstones. As the story goes, teachers at the school chose to hide the desk after he shot to fame because they didn’t want to be associated with him due to the challenges he gave them while a student.
Tom Barry, who teaches at Calderstones, has explained: “The story is that the headmaster, Bill Pobjoy, when John had made some sort of fame with the Beatles, we think in about 1963 or 1964, he asked the caretaker, known as Yozzer, to unscrew John’s old school desk from the history room and put it into storage.”
While they were all aware of where the desk supposedly was, locating it proved to be difficult, as Barry recalled, “That’s been locked away for years and they lost the key so we had to beat the door down to get to it.”
He continued, “The rumour had circulated through the school and we weren’t quite sure if it was actually the desk belonging to John, but we’ve now found a document from the headmaster’s PA which notes down the task for the caretaker, so we have written proof.”
According to Barry, Quarry Bank would regularly turn away Beatles fans who arrived at Lennon’s former schooling establishment and tried to disown him. “When John left, he was that much of a nuisance and a bully and that much of a poor student the school staff didn’t want to acknowledge that he ever went to the school, and removed any trace of him,” he said.
The teacher continued, “He was never spoken about, he was never acknowledged through Beatlemania.”
Time has proved to be a healer, and at long last, they are now honouring their most famous former pupil. They are even offering tours to fans who want to see one of the earliest stages he performed on with George Harrison and Paul McCartney as The Quarrymen.
Lennon’s old school desk, along with a ledger signed by his aunt Mimi and more memorabilia from his time at Quarry Bank, is now displayed at The Beatles museum on Matthew Street in Liverpool.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.