According to retired Arts College Lecturer Reg Cox, “Stuart was a lovely lad, he lived at No 9 when my wife, Ina, and I lived at number 11. Stuart would borrow our sweeping brush to clean his flat when his mother was coming to visit” Stuart’s parents lived at 37 Aigburth Drive in Sefton Park, which is now The Blenheim Hotel. Reg went on to say “Stuart upset his Belgium Landlady Mrs Plant, when he painted all the furniture black and white, some people say that Stuart was evicted from 9 Percy Street, he wasn’t, he just left to share a flat with his friends” “We had great parties in Percy Street” recalls Reg “It was very Bohemian and the cellars of the houses were inter-linked so we could go from number 11 to number 9 without having to go out into the street. The Liverpool Art set attended the parties, Fritz Spiegel, Adrian Henry and Roger McGough, to be honest I can’t remember if Paul and George were ever at any of the parties, remember they were not famous, but I know John did, he always wanted to be the centre of attention.”
Stuart was mentioned by name in the original lyrics of “In My Life”, this was changed when E.MI. Executives were worried about Stuart’s family being upset and possibly suing.* John changed the lyric to: With lovers and friends, I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life, I've loved them all
(Article by Phillip Coppell for ClickLiverpool)
*If anyone has more information/sources on this claim, I’d appreciate it! It’s too specific to just be a warped version of Pete Shotton’s story.
