I am sure that we all have heard about John's Lennon's tooth that sold for a little over $31,000 at an auction a few years ago. The story was that John Lennon had a bad tooth and he pulled it himself (ouch!) and asked his housekeeper, Dot, to get kid of it for him. Dot asked if he would mind if she gave the tooth to her Beatlemaniac Daughter, Anne, and John said that the didn't care what she did with the tooth. And so many years later Dot put this tooth up for auction.
That is where the book, John Lennon's Tooth Mr. Bonzai (the pen name for David Goggin) starts. Like the rest of us, David read about the tooth going up for auction, but the part of the story that interested him was the fact that Dot was still alive! He had wanted to thank the famous housekeeper since 1967 for the amazing opportunity she gave him to meet John Lennon.
And so this ebook has nothing really to do with John Lennon's tooth and if you ask me, it is a terrible title for a book. It is actually two stories interwoven between chapters. The first is the story of David Goggin, which I have mentioned before on this blog.
Without giving too much of the story away, David was a Beatle fan who traveled to 1967 to "study abroad." Like many fans, the reason to do the studying abroad was to meet the Beatles. He went to Kenwood in September and knocked on the door. Dot told him that John was sleeping and and asked him to wait in the garage (with the yellow rolls).
John comes out and sees David in the garage and invited his inside the house for tea while he eats his breakfast! The story could have ended right there and it would have been an amazing story. But there is more!
David ends up being invited to go along with Peter Brown and John to pick up George Harrison and ride into London for the appearance on the David Frost show. So here this Beatle fan is riding in a car with two of the Beatles and talking about all sorts of things. From there he was invited into the recording studio while all four Beatles were working on "I am the Walrus."
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It really is an amazing story and David got the Beatles autograph in a notebook.
The second part of the story if that of Dorthy Jarlett, who was John and Cynthia housekeeper/nanny at Kenwood. Aunt Dot (as John called her) tells her story to David for the book about how she got hired, how she gave John Lennon driving lessons (bless her hearrt!), about Julian Lennon's birthday party she held when the Lennons were in India (and how Julian didn't recognize Daddy when he returned from the trip), and many many more stories.
This book seems like it was written in a hurry. Like David just wanted to get his story and Dot's story out there as quickly as possible and didn't put a lot of work to make his stories better. I would have liked to have read more details in his meeting with the Beatles. He barely mentioned Paul at all.
Having said that----the book is pretty neat. His story of meeting the Beatles is amazing. And as far as I know, this book is the only place where you can read Dot's stories of working for John.
It is only available as an ebook through Amazon. However, John Lennon's Tooth only costs 99 cents! It is a pretty short book, but for under a dollar, you can't go wrong!
http://www.amazon.com/John-Lennons-Tooth-Beatles-Dorothy-ebook/dp/B00A9XT2WA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420662900&sr=8-1&keywords=John+Lennon%27s+tooth
That is where the book, John Lennon's Tooth Mr. Bonzai (the pen name for David Goggin) starts. Like the rest of us, David read about the tooth going up for auction, but the part of the story that interested him was the fact that Dot was still alive! He had wanted to thank the famous housekeeper since 1967 for the amazing opportunity she gave him to meet John Lennon.
 |
| Dot and her daughter, Ann (photo from the book John Lennon's Tooth) |
And so this ebook has nothing really to do with John Lennon's tooth and if you ask me, it is a terrible title for a book. It is actually two stories interwoven between chapters. The first is the story of David Goggin, which I have mentioned before on this blog.
Without giving too much of the story away, David was a Beatle fan who traveled to 1967 to "study abroad." Like many fans, the reason to do the studying abroad was to meet the Beatles. He went to Kenwood in September and knocked on the door. Dot told him that John was sleeping and and asked him to wait in the garage (with the yellow rolls).
John comes out and sees David in the garage and invited his inside the house for tea while he eats his breakfast! The story could have ended right there and it would have been an amazing story. But there is more!
David ends up being invited to go along with Peter Brown and John to pick up George Harrison and ride into London for the appearance on the David Frost show. So here this Beatle fan is riding in a car with two of the Beatles and talking about all sorts of things. From there he was invited into the recording studio while all four Beatles were working on "I am the Walrus."
It really is an amazing story and David got the Beatles autograph in a notebook.
 |
| The Beatles autograph for David Goggin (take from the book John Lennon's tooth) |
The second part of the story if that of Dorthy Jarlett, who was John and Cynthia housekeeper/nanny at Kenwood. Aunt Dot (as John called her) tells her story to David for the book about how she got hired, how she gave John Lennon driving lessons (bless her hearrt!), about Julian Lennon's birthday party she held when the Lennons were in India (and how Julian didn't recognize Daddy when he returned from the trip), and many many more stories.
This book seems like it was written in a hurry. Like David just wanted to get his story and Dot's story out there as quickly as possible and didn't put a lot of work to make his stories better. I would have liked to have read more details in his meeting with the Beatles. He barely mentioned Paul at all.
Having said that----the book is pretty neat. His story of meeting the Beatles is amazing. And as far as I know, this book is the only place where you can read Dot's stories of working for John.
It is only available as an ebook through Amazon. However, John Lennon's Tooth only costs 99 cents! It is a pretty short book, but for under a dollar, you can't go wrong!
http://www.amazon.com/John-Lennons-Tooth-Beatles-Dorothy-ebook/dp/B00A9XT2WA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420662900&sr=8-1&keywords=John+Lennon%27s+tooth