The sister of Stuart Sutcliffe, the "fifth Beatle", is to make public startling new evidence that strengthens her claim that his death was caused by a kick to the head from John Lennon.
Pauline Sutcliffe, who believes her brother was beaten up by Lennon in the months before he died, is to sell off a huge archive containing a sketchbook that indicates a rapid decline in his mental health after the alleged incident.
The timing of the pad's entries will bolster her case that the brain haemorrhage that killed Sutcliffe at the age of 21 was caused not by a street brawl, as has long been supposed, but by a blow to the head from his closest friend. [...]
Ms Sutcliffe, who has just sold a smaller archive of ephemera to the Museum of Liverpool Life, says her main motive for releasing the material is to "give it its wings" and allow the public to judge its merits for itself. "Hopefully, it reveals he wasn't just a pretty face who played the bass guitar very badly," she said.
Hopefully it won't also reveal Ms Sutcliffe as a bitter old woman only trying to stir up shit to drive up interest in, and hopefully prices paid for, her brother's relics. Funny, isn't it, how this news comes just as she's trying to sell off this archive... funny, too, how people will probably tend to believe the accusation even though it's decades since the alleged attacker's been able to defend himself and even more decades since the victim could be examined for evidence...
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
I think JFK and John Lennon have the most picked over bones in history - I agree with your take entirely.
2 - Stormy
I need to ask Pauline a question about the Blue painting that John took.