C S I Beatles

the CSI-Beatles Mission

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:21:00 GMT

In this Podcast, we investigate some unresolved Beatles mysteries, and apparent paradoxes. Every Beatles fan has come across moments where something written (or said) does not sound right, or seems to contradict earlier understanding. In these cases, the CSI-Beatles team springs into action, to get the Facts on the table, and to resolve the mystery. At least, that is my intention.....

Episode 1: July 15, 1958

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:34:05 GMT

A while ago, I was in Liverpool and did the 'Magical mystery' bus tour. Amongst others, we admired the house where John Lennon lived, 251 Menlove Avenue. Here,I stumbled on the Mystery that we will address in the coming episodes of CSI-Beatles: what actualy happed here on July 15, 1958 ?

Mendips

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:37:44 GMT

The house where John lived with his aunt Mimi (and uncle George, who died before 1958) was called Mendips. According to Mimi, Julia (John's mother) was hit by car and died within 200 yards of this house. Mimi never wanted to give details of the excct location of the accident, since John passed the spot almost every day. Until now, the excact location has not been identified. I took this picture this year, and it hasn't changed much since 1958. John's room is above the proch, but the night of July 15, 1958, he as not there. He had walked away from Mimi (as he had done before) to spend a few days at his mother's house, at 1 Blomfield Road, around2 miles from Mendips, as the crow flies. Julia Lennon had visited Mimi that night (as she did almost every day) and they had sat in the 'Morning room', visble just on the left of the house. When Julia left, around 9.45 pm, she still chatted abit with Mimi at the gate, also shown. What happened next ? I had read (e.g ref 1) that 'Julia walked down Menlove Avenue then crossed the road toward the bus stop. Old tram tracks, concelaed by by a thin hedgerow, ran down the middle of the busy divided highway. as Julia stepped through te hedge into the southbound lane, a car came suddenly out of the twilight, swerving inward on the steep camber.'

The situation at Menlove Avenue

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:20:40 GMT

And here, the mystery became apparant; as I turned around from Mendips, I looked back acoss Menlove Avenue, direction South-West, expecting to see the genral direction where the accidnet happended in 1958. As is clear from the picture I took, Menlove Avenue is perfectly staright here, so what about this 'camber' of the car ? Yes, there are some hedges etc. divding the road, but would this block the view of motorists as badly as described ? Furthemore, there is no bus stop in sight... True, the hedges might have been bigger in 1958, but there has been no change in the lay-out of the road, or location of bus stops. So where and how did the accident happen, if not here ?

Julia's Bus Route

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:21:00 GMT

To solve the mystery, we must find out where Julia walked to when she left Mendips. Looking at the map, she had 2 options to go to Blomfield Road: - take a bus direction south-east from Mendips (red line) , and change busses 2 stops down, and then take a bus SE direction Allerton, or - take the bus direction north-west on Menlove Avenue (green line), and change 6 stops north to the bus going south on Allerton Road (incidenatlly, going past Forthlin Road, where Paul lived). CSI-Beatles concludes that Julia took the NW route (green line): Mendips is on the southbound side of Menlove Avenue, so Julia would not have crosed the road to take the south-westerly route. She probaly favoured this route, since the stop on Allerton road was close to her house at Blomfield road. How did she walk to her bus stop from Mendips ?

Nigel Walley's Story

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:27:30 GMT

Now we can put Nigel Walley's story (2) in context. Nigel (left, picture take 2 months earlier) was present when Julia died in the road accident a little over two months after this photograph was taken. He says: “I went to call for John that evening but his Aunt Mimi told me he was out. Mimi was at the gate with John’s mum, who was about to leave. We stood chatting and John’s mum said ‘Well, you have the privilege of escorting me to the bus stop!’ I said ‘That will do me fine. I’ll be happy to do that.’

Julia and Nigel's walking route

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:11:19 GMT

we can now reconstruct excactly where they went: Julia's bus stop is to the North-west, so they walked NW along Menlove avenue (still on the east side, where Mendips is).. As they came to the intersction of Menlove avenue and Vale Road, their ways parted: Nigel lived on Vale Road, so he turned right. From that point, julia mist hav crossed the road to get to the bus station, lcoated on the other side of Menlove avanue, and also across Vale Road (or the Vineries as the extension towards the west of Vale road is called).

Accident Site

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:21:25 GMT

Nigel recalls what happened next:"We walked down Menlove Avenue and I turned off to go up Vale Road, where I lived. I must have been about 15 yards up the road when I heard a car skidding. I turned round to see John’s mum going through the air. I rushed over but she had been killed instantly.” The Google Earth picture shows the tragic situation: Nigel ca 15 yards into Vale Road, Julia hit on Melnove Avenue, a few yards from her bus stop. If anyone wants to commemorate this tragic event, that had such an impact on John Lennon (and thus, on so many of his followers), then now you know where to lay the flowers.

How did the accident happen ?

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:39:53 GMT

The above reconstruction shows how inaccurate previous accounts of the accident are: it happened on the Northbound side (not southbound), on an intersection (not in a bend of the road) Much later, Lennon said in various interviews that his mother 'was killed by a drunk off-duty policeman as she waited at her bus-stop'. Clearly, in Lennon's mind (and 20 years on), all blame was with the driver and Julia was the victim of criminal behaviour (drunk driving). We don't have first hand information on the investigatiomn of the accident, but it can't have been up to the standards that we have today for a potential drink-and-drive fatal accident. The driver was found not-responsible in the subequent court-case, he was only reprimanded for driving unaccompanied while holding a learner driver's permit. So part of the mystery remains: why did the car (a 'Standard Vanguard', of the type shown) hit Julia ? It was a clear evening, Menlove Avenue is well lit, the road is straight, visibility was good. We also note (and this was not mentioned at the time) that Julia needed to cross 2 lanes of the Northbound side of Menlove Avenue, coming from the hedges etc. in the middle. This must have given the driver time to see her emerge from behind any hedges, unless he hit her while he was driving in the right-hand side lane. Why would he have done that (in UK cars keep to the left lane), unless he was speeding, or otherwise out of control of the car ? So, we can't completely answer how/why the accident happened, but we have come a lot closer to demystifying some stories that arose out of the scarce infomation given during the Beatles era...........

References for July 15, 1958

BDJ — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:30:39 GMT

Blomfield Road, where Julia lived in 1958 (1) "Shout", Philip Norman (2006) (2) Liverpool Echo, Oct 3 2007, by Paddy Shennan