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Ivan Vaughan

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Ivan Vaughan
Birth nameIvan Vaughan
Born18 June 1942
Liverpool, England
Died16 August 1993(1993-08-16) (aged 51)
Liverpool, England
GenresSkiffle
Occupations
  • Musician
  • teacher
Instrument
Formerly ofThe Quarrymen
Spouse
Jan Vaughan
​
(m. 1966)​

Ivan Vaughan (18 June 1942 – 16 August 1993) was an English musician and teacher best known for introducing two of his childhood friends, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, in 1957.

Biography

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Vaughan was born in Liverpool on the same day as McCartney and they both commenced school at the Liverpool Institute in September 1953. Vaughan studied classics at University College London,[1] married in 1966 and settled down to family life with a son and daughter. From 1973 to 1983, Vaughan taught psychology at Homerton College, Cambridge. On grounds of ill health, he had to take early retirement.[2]

Vaughan died in Liverpool on 16 August 1993[1] of pneumonia, at the age of 51.

Lennon and McCartney

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At age 4, Vaughan became friends with a 6-year-old John Lennon.[3] Lennon led a crew of friends with Vaughan, Nigel Walley, and Pete Shotton, who hung out around Liverpool at places like Strawberry Field.[4] Vaughan met McCartney upon their entry to the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys in 1953. (Vaughan attended Liverpool Institute because his mother sought to separate him from Lennon, who was attending Quarry Bank High School.)[5]

He played tea-chest bass part-time in Lennon's first band, the Quarrymen. He was responsible for introducing Lennon (then 16) to McCartney at a community event (the Woolton village fête) on 6 July 1957, where the Quarrymen were performing. McCartney, having just turned 15, impressed Lennon by knowing all the lyrics to Eddie Cochran's song "Twenty Flight Rock", and with his guitar playing, Lennon invited McCartney to join the band. The next day, McCartney conveyed through Vaughan that he accepted the offer.[6] This decision led to the formation of the Lennon–McCartney partnership, which formed the nucleus of the Beatles.[7][1]

Lennon and McCartney kept in contact with Vaughan during the 1960s. Vaughan's wife Jan, a language teacher, helped McCartney with the French lyrics to the Beatles' 1965 song "Michelle".[2] For a time, the Beatles put Vaughan on the payroll of their Apple company, in charge of a plan that never took off to set up a school.[8]

Vaughan's death touched McCartney so deeply that he began to write poetry for the first time since he was a child.[9] He wrote the poem "Ivan" about him after his death, which was published in McCartney's 2001 book Blackbird Singing.[10][11]

Autobiographic and documentary

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In 1977, Vaughan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. His book, Ivan: Living with Parkinson’s Disease, was published in 1986.[12] He was featured in a 1984 BBC documentary, produced by Patrick Uden and hosted by Jonathan Miller,[13][14] about his search for a cure.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Simpson, George (4 September 2020). "The Beatles: Paul McCartney shares childhood photo with George Harrison and Ivan Vaughan". Express. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Ivan Vaughan". Homerton 250. Homerton College, Cambridge. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  3. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (2013). The Beatles – All These Years: Volume One: Tune In (Extended ed.). Little, Brown Book Group Limited. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-4087-0575-9. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  4. ^ Lewisohn, p. 135, 193.
  5. ^ Lewisohn, p. 180.
  6. ^ "When John Lennon met Paul McCartney". &MEETINGS. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  7. ^ "John Lennon meets Paul McCartney: Saturday 6 July 1957". The Beatles Bible. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  8. ^ Doggett, Peter (13 October 2009). You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle For The Soul Of The Beatles. Random House. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4090-8664-2.
  9. ^ "Front Row – Sir Paul McCartney – BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. 30 April 2001. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Paul McCartney: From Pop To The Printed Page". NPR. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  11. ^ McCartney, Paul (2001). Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965–1999. Adrian Mitchell (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-02049-5. OCLC 45791387.
  12. ^ Vaughan, Ivan (1986). Ivan. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-42454-9. OCLC 13904860., first published in US in 1987 with title "Ivan: Living with Parkinson’s Disease"
  13. ^ Vaughan, Ivan; BBC Education (1984), Ivan, London: BBC Education & Training, OCLC 220771119, retrieved 6 March 2022
  14. ^ "Ivan (1984)". BFI. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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