Beatles Christmas exhibition to recreate John -Yoko ‘bed-in’

LONDON - A Beatles Christmas exhibition at the Artwaves gallery in Stoke-on-Trent in December will feature the famous ‘John and Yoko’ bed-in.

Exhibits include Beatles Christmas memorabilia, and some of John Lennon’s erotic prints.

“John and Yoko famously had a ‘bed-in’ for peace, and we are recreating the scene,” the BBC quoted organiser Garry Marsh as saying.

The exhibition - titled Everywhere It’s Christmas - also marks the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, who was shot in New York on 8 December, 1980. He would have been 70 this year.

“The show is half a tribute to John Lennon, but also a reminder of how important Christmas was to the Beatles in the early part of the band’s career,” Marsh said.

“Their Christmas shows are legendary; and each Christmas during this era would be marked by some form of new Beatles memorabilia. Most famously, the fab four used to issue a special flexi-disc with each issue of the fan club magazine,” he said.

On show will be Christmas-related posters, tickets and toys relating to the Beatles. A double bed, in which members of the public can lie, will form part of the show.

The bed echoes the events of 1969 when John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono spent their honeymoon in a hotel in Amsterdam, refusing to leave their bed as a gesture for world peace.

They followed up the Dutch event with a similar one in Canada, where they also recorded the song Give Peace a Chance.

Also in the Burslem collection will be some limited-edition prints of Lennon’s erotic lithographs, which, say organisers, have not been shown in public for 40 years. Because of the nature of the prints, adults only will be allowed in this part of the show.

The Beatles At Christmas show at Artwaves, in Nile Street in Burslem, runs from Saturday 11 to Saturday 18 December. Admission is free. (ANI)