Ivan Vaughan (18 June 1942 – 16 August 1993) was a boyhood friend of

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and later a schoolmate of

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

at the

Liverpool Institute The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys was an all-boys grammar school in the English port city of Liverpool. The school had its origins in 1825 but occupied different premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building on ...

, both commencing school there in September 1953. He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

on the same day as McCartney. He played

tea-chest bass The washtub bass, or gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses hav ...

part-time in Lennon's first band,

The Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/ rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Q ...

, and was responsible for introducing Lennon (then 16) to McCartney at a community event (the

Woolton Woolton (; ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located southeast of the city and is bordered by Allerton, Gateacre, Halewood, and Hunt's Cross. At the 2011 Census, the population was 12,921. Overview Originally a standalone ...

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 accomplished guitar playing. Lennon decisively invited McCartney to join the band, which, following a night's sleep, he conveyed through Vaughan that he accepted the offer. This decision led to the formation of the formidable Lennon and McCartney's songwriting partnership and subsequently, as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, the group went on to achieve worldwide success.

Personal life

Vaughan studied

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, married in 1966 and settled down to family life with a son and daughter. From 1973 to 1983, Vaughan taught Psychology at

Homerton Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, i ...

College. On grounds of ill health, he had to take early retirement. Lennon and McCartney never forgot the friend who brought them together. For a time they put Vaughan on the payroll of their

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

company, in charge of a plan that never took off to set up a school with a Sixties, hippie-style education ethos. Vaughan's wife Jan, a language teacher, helped McCartney with the French lyrics to the Beatles 1965 song " Michelle".

Autobiographic and documentary

In 1977, Vaughan was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

. His book, ''Ivan: Living with Parkinson’s Disease'', was published in 1986, and he featured in a documentary produced for the BBC in 1984 by Patrick Uden, hosted by

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1 ...

about his search for a cure. He died in 1993 of pneumonia. Vaughan's death touched Paul McCartney so deeply that he began to write poetry for the first time since he was a child. He wrote the poem "Ivan" about him after his death, which was published in McCartney's 2001 book ''Blackbird Singing''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Ivan 1942 births 1993 deaths The Quarrymen members English autobiographers People with Parkinson's disease Alumni of University College London Schoolteachers from Merseyside Musicians from Liverpool People from Woolton