George Harrison – I, Me, Mine

George Harrison: Biography

George Harrison was born on 25 February 1943, though he often told people he was born on 24 February.

Homes

Harrison was born at 12, Arnold Grove (Wavertree) where he lived until he was nearly seven-years old. He was the youngest of four children born to Harold and Louise Harrison, with the eldest child the only girl, named Louise after her mother. George’s two older brothers were called Harold and Peter. The family moved to 25, Upton Green (Speke) in January 1950. They lived there until 1962 when they moved again, to 174, Macketts Lane (Woolton), but they soon became overrun with a new phenomenon, Beatlemania which meant that the house was soon besieged. Acting swiftly, George moved his family out of Liverpool to a bungalow, ‘Sevenoaks’, in Appleton, near Warrington, in 1965.

Education

His schooling began in April 1948 at Dovedale School where he attended the same school as John Lennon (though they didn’t know each other at the time). At the age of eleven, George passed his eleven-plus exam and moved on to the Liverpool Institute (Liverpool) where he befriended a lad who rode the same bus to school: his name was Paul McCartney.

Religion

George Harrison’s father, Harold, described himself as a ‘lapsed Anglican’ while his mum, Louise, was Catholic. George was christened into the Roman Catholic Church at Our Lady of Good Help, Wavertree, and was a Cub in the Boy Scouts at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Mossley Hill. Interestingly, the Harrisons excluded four-year-old George from daily religious instruction when he started at Dovedale School.

George’s fascination with Eastern religions was sparked by a 1966 trip to India but this interest was possibly started by Pete Best’s mum Mona, who regaled him with stories of her native country. Mo spent hours talking about her life in India and experiences of the Indian religions and beliefs. George thanked Mo by bringing her back many necklaces and trinkets from India after he had met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Mo had an Eastern outlook but was married to her Western upbringing. She was Church of England, though not a churchgoer. She had statues of Jesus and of Mary, but also had a giant Buddha in the hallway. She was spiritual, not religious. Mona believed in karma and reincarnation and prayed every night. She believed that despite the different religions, every road leads you back to the one divine being.

How interesting that George had similar religious beliefs. When The Beatles went to India in 1968, it wasn’t a complete culture shock. Mo had taken them there in their minds with her tales years before. George eventually believed that organized religions were all continuing a lie, and he rejected them. He often poured scorn on them, particularly if you read the lyrics of his posthumous album Brainwashed. The most ‘spiritual’ of The Beatles, he was content with life and thought that it was all part of a spiritual journey that included reincarnation. When George knew that the end was near he was not afraid of death.

Musical Influences

After receiving a guitar as a gift and learning to play until his fingers bled, George formed a group with his friend Arthur Kelly. They appeared as The Rebels at the British Legion, Dam Wood Road (Speke). Early into his apprenticeship, he and Paul learned the guitar together. Soon it was Paul who introduced him to John Lennon. George joined The Quarrymen after playing a guitar riff of “Raunchy” for John and The Quarrymen at a gig at Wilson Hall (Garston) on 7 December 1957.

He left The Quarrymen after their appearances dried up, and joined another band called the “Les Stewart Quartet”, who appeared at Lowlands (West Derby). After a band argument, George and Ken Brown left the Les Stewart Quartet and re-formed The Quarrymen adding John and Paul again to open The Casbah Coffee Club (West Derby) in August 1959.

Harold and Louise Harrison

When George was born, his father Harold commented, “I remember tiptoeing up the stairs to see him. All I could think of was that he looked remarkably like me”. Harold had left school at fourteen to become a delivery boy and then three years later went to sea. He joined the White Star Line, working his way up to a first-class steward by the age of twenty-one. On one of his trips home he met his wife-to-be, Louise, who was working in a greengrocer’s shop at the time. They exchanged letters, married a year later and Harold gave up the sea in 1936. After spending a year looking for work, he became a bus conductor. Harold was later a bus driver, a union official and the master of ceremonies at the Speke bus depot social club. For over ten years, Harold and Louise ran ballroom dancing classes. Harold booked The Quarrymen for a Christmas party at Wilson Hall in Garston in January 1959. Louise encouraged George’s musical talents and gladly let The Quarrymen and Beatles practice in their home.

Louise and Harold often invited fans into their home, and faithfully answered George’s fan mail.

All About George

Stan Williams attended Dovedale School with John Lennon, Ivan Vaughan and George Harrison, and is in a unique position to recall some of his childhood memories.

“I possess a photo of a Dovedale School sports occasion with George standing next to our shared pal, Ashley Thom. George sat with Ashley in the year below me and Ashley used to go out to George’s house on the new Speke council estate. At Mrs. Harrison’s, Ashley would be guaranteed the tea of egg and chips his own mum couldn’t be bothered to cook for him. I saw George at school, of course, but he was a quiet boy and it was through Ashley that I found out more about him. He and Ashley would go out into the Cheshire countryside around the Speke housing estate or down to Oglet Shore, where they would walk and talk amongst the driftwood and debris washed up from the Mersey. George liked one-to-one relationships and quiet conversation Ashley told me.

“When George started to play the guitar, I must have been one of the first to know about it, as Ash used to bring me updated reports on his gradual mastery of his first, crap guitar and then the Hofner, bought from a shop. I think it was Hessy’s, in town. He must only have been in the second year at the Liverpool Institute, but Lonnie Donegan had taken possession of our young lives and skiffle groups were being set up by teenagers all over Liverpool in 1956. We had a group called “The Satellites” and we boasted an accomplished guitarist with his own amplified Hofner. His name was Brian and he was in the sixth year at Old Swan Tech, while Ashley was raving about the bludgeoning skills of a fourteen-year old.

“Ashley visited George down in London when he became famous. I can’t remember when and where he obtained ‘an audience,’ but he was let into a big house and met George for an hour. Fame had not made a bit of difference to George’s manner and his gentle spirit had prevailed. I remember Ashley remarking that George was a spiritual person. He was gentle natured, thoughtful, and he seemed so genuinely glad to see friends from the past who mattered”.

Ray O’Brien attended the Liverpool Institute with George Harrison and Paul. He too has fond memories of George.

“George’s taste in dress code was unique, particularly his range of waistcoats that stood out from the uniform. He was a rebel and obviously never happy at the Liverpool Institute, as George has stated. One of my clearest memories is of George standing at the bus stop in his uniform, but he didn’t have a school badge on his blazer. This was a standard rule for every boy, who had to buy a black blazer and have the badge sewn on to the jacket. I was curious as to how he had managed to achieve this. It turned out that George had never had his badge sewn on, and managed to keep it temporarily pinned on by using a pen top or the like so that it appeared to be attached. This was just one of his rebellions, each one a little victory.

“One of the other ways of standing out from the crowd was morning religious assembly. Every morning on the dot of nine o’clock, all the boys would gather in the hall for assembly. If you were late, then at the end of the assembly, you were paraded down the middle of the hall to the front and made to stand in front of the whole school: being named and shamed. This was supposed to be a deterrent, which worked for many boys. George would often be in this group.

“As well as the latecomers, there were the boys excused from the religious service. This group included those boys who were from either Jewish or Catholic families, and George was often with them”.

Mal Jefferson was also a fellow pupil of Paul and George at the Liverpool Institute. I spoke to him about his recollections of the former Beatle.

“George was in the year above me. I remember George as a goodlooking lad with a strong square jaw and a great smile—though his sticking out ears were more prominent with his teddy-boy quiff. George and Paul would lean against the bike sheds, out of sight of the teachers, smoking their Woodbines and talking about music. George was a friend of my older brother, and so I was used to him coming to the house and talking about music—something he would still do if we met years after we had left school.

“I remember one day—probably in 1958—when Paul and George brought their guitars into school with an amplifier and played in their classroom for an hour. I remember George singing “Earth Angel” amongst others, and I was impressed by their harmonies, as well as their presentation and professionalism—that Beatle harmony sound with George doing John’s part. George had been intrigued by how great guitarists like Scotty Moore could play so accurately and so quickly, a skill he tried to emulate all his life”.

Mal himself went on to form The Mastersounds who played regularly at The Cavern, and to form his own recording company Mastersound after an apprenticeship in London working with legends like Marvin Gaye.

“I met up again with George in the mid-eighties at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool for the quarterly George Formby Society concerts”. Formby was a famous Lancashire ukulele player and also sang in many black and white movies.

“Every member had to get up and sing, and play his or her favourite Formby song: George was no exception. George sold me an original George Formby ukulele, which he owned, pleading poverty after losing so much money with Handmade Films. He asked me for £2000. I pretended to feel sorry for him, and gave him a cheque for £2001 and told him not to go mad with the extra pound. He pocketed the cheque without so much as a smile—he seemed to have lost his sense of humour. Apparently, it also didn’t help that a nine-year-old boy came on after us and produced a blistering double-speed solo which neither George nor I could manage.

“George redeemed himself a year later when he had a beautiful eight-foot colour portrait of George Formby commissioned for his lounge. George sent me a photograph of it for me to use exclusively on the covers of Mastersound’s series of George Formby tapes and videos. That was a kind gesture and the last thing I remember of him”.

George made many friends at the Liverpool Institute, especially Paul McCartney. It was those long bus rides to school each day with Paul that cemented their relationship. They would meet at each other’s homes to practice guitar. Paul realised how good George was, and when The Quarrymen needed a lead guitarist, Paul knew who it should be.

David Bedford

Taken from “Liddypool”