HUTCH

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Johnny was so convinced that the Beatles would never amount to anything that when he ended up with a self-portrait of John, he let his dad use it to fix a broken door.
Johnny recalls ‘’John owed me Ten Bob (50p). So I went to his flat and said, ‘Hey, where’s my money?
‘’None of us had any money; we were all bums; we played music to get by; they were all lazy bastards. So I said, ‘Where’s my money? And he said, ‘I don’t have any,’ and I said, ‘I want my money now, or I’m taking something. There was a portrait of him on the floor in a red waistcoat and white shirt
- So I took that. He had painted it himself.
My ma put it at the fireplace, but in the end, my dad nailed the back door up with it. We had no timber, and the back door was busted, so he looked around and saw the portrait of John. (So convinced was Johnny that the Beatles would never amount to anything, when he ended up with a self-portrait of John, he let his dad use it to fix the broken door,) ‘John and I were different people. I used to pick him up when he was drunk, face down in his meal. I didn’t drink.
I go up to Liverpool Airport and see the sign ‘John Lennon Airport and I think, Jesus Christ, if only they knew. But Johnny says the pair remained pals, adding “John made up with me –he always used to say, Johnny Hutch can sing better than you’ to Paul. He wanted me to join.’’
Of all the Beatles, Johnny was closest to George Harrison, who was ‘’my favorite Beatle –a proper mate.’’
As for Ringo, Johnny takes the credit for urging Brian to recruit him. The two drummers knew each other well. Ringo bought his first car, a Standard Vanguard, from Johnny for Seventy-Five Pounds.
Johnny says ‘’Ringo was with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes when I told Brian to get him. Canny operator Brian apparently decided to keep Johnny in the dark about the talks the band already had with Ringo. Photographed two years earlier, playing as a last-minute replacement for the Beatles who were at an audition, Johnny had already seen enough of his fellow Liverpudlians to decide he would not fit in. He reckons John Lennon was eager for him to join, but Johnny didn’t like the frontman’s drinking.

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I suspect that Hutch was visiting Gambier Terrace in Liverpool, where a couple of to-be Beatles lived. Hutch claims in his missive that '' Lennon painted the picture himself." Stuart Sutcliffe ( Lennon's best Buddy ) may have executed this work. Sutcliff was a very accomplished artist; he entered some of his work in the John Moors exhibition and won twenty-five pounds. John Lennon bullied Stuart into purchasing a bass guitar with his winnings, and he temporarily joined the Beatles. He departed with the group for Germany after the tour ended. Stuart did not return with them.