Peter Shotton (4 August 1941 – 24 March 2017) was an English businessman. He was known for creating the Fatty Arbuckle's chain of restaurants and for his long friendship with

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

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

; he played the washboard in the Beatles' precursor

the Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle and 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 school friends, the ...

and remained close to the band, holding various positions related to their business ventures over the years.

Biography

Shotton was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 4 August 1941, the son of Bessie (née Wilson) and George Shotton. He was a close childhood friend of

, with whom he attended Dovedale Infants School and Quarry Bank Grammar School. The two were frequently in trouble with school faculty, often being caned by the headmaster as punishment for their misdeeds, and they came to be known at Quarry Bank as "Shennon and Lotton" or "Lotton and Shennon". In 1957, Shotton was Lennon's bandmate in

, playing the washboard until

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

joined. Shotton left the band when he confided that he did not really enjoy playing, prompting Lennon to smash the washboard over his head at a party. However, he remained a friend and confidant of the group, becoming close with all of the Beatles. Shotton pursued a career in business; after the Beatles became famous and wealthy, Lennon bought a supermarket on Hayling Island and gave it to him. He later served as manager of the band's

Apple Boutique The Apple Boutique was a retail store located in a building on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street, Marylebone, London. It opened on 7 December 1967 and closed on 31 July 1968. The shop was one of the first business ventures by th ...

, then as the first CEO of their

Apple Corps Apple Corps Limited is a British multimedia company that was established in London by the members of the Beatles in the 1960s to form a Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company's name, pronounced "apple core", is a pun. Its chief div ...

. After Lennon began a relationship with

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

and Apple started to flounder, Shotton parted company with the Beatles. Shotton resumed his ownership of the Hayling Island supermarket, which he continued to run until the late 1970s. He then created the Fatty Arbuckle's chain of restaurants, a franchise designed to bring the feel of the American diner to Britain. The franchise was highly successful in the 1980s and was later sold for an undisclosed sum. He later moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to live as a

tax exile A tax exile is a person who leaves a country to avoid the payment of income tax or other taxes. The term refers to an individual who already owes money to the tax authorities or wishes to avoid being liable in the future for taxation at what they ...

. Upon hearing the news that Lennon had been murdered on 8 December 1980, he visited Harrison at Friar Park. He co-authored, with

Nicholas Schaffner Nicholas Schaffner (January 28, 1953 – August 28, 1991) was an American non-fiction author, journalist, and singer-songwriter. Biography Schaffner was born in Manhattan to John V. Schaffner (1913–1983), a literary agent whose clients includ ...

, the book ''John Lennon: In My Life'' (1983). It was republished later as ''The Beatles, Lennon and Me'', and told the story of their friendship from the age of six until Lennon's death. On 24 March 2017, at the age of 75, Shotton died of a heart attack at his home in

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East district, in Cheshire, England; it is located south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Warrington. The population of the parish at the 2021 Uni ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Shotton, Pete & Schaffner, Nicholas. ''John Lennon: In My Life'' (1983). * Davies, Hunter. ''The Quarrymen'' (2001), Omnibus. *Norman, Philip (2008). John Lennon: The Life. HarperCollins. .

External links

Quarry Men

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shotton, Pete 1941 births 2017 deaths Apple Corps The Quarrymen members People educated at Quarry Bank High School Businesspeople from Liverpool The Beatles English expatriates in Ireland Washboard players 20th-century English businesspeople