John Lennon in conversation with Tony Taylor

Previously unpublished interviews

recorded in Wellington, June 1964

During The Beatles’ tour of New Zealand

***

Together with details of the only reported

study of Beatlemania

Dr A.J.W. (Tony) Taylor is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington. He was the first professor of clinical psychology in the British Commonwealth, and is the author of his memoir Cockney Kid: the Making of an Unconventional Psychologist. He joined the University with a background in the probation and prison psychology service, and went on to develop interests in student counselling, clinical psychology and psychiatry. That combination led Taylor to undertake applied research in Antarctic isolation, developments for Volunteer Service Abroad, and psychological stress in response to crises of various kinds. It eventually involved research into Beatlemania when the 'fab-four' came to New Zealand in 1964, when he undertook some study about the effects of music on audiences. It is out of that particular interest that this unique, previously unpublished interview with John Lennon ensued.

Dr Michael O’Leary is a poet, artist, novelist publisher, performer and bookshop proprietor. He has a BA from Otago University (Dunedin), and an MA and PhD from Victoria University (Wellington). His Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (ESAW) imprint (inspired by Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory’, The Beatles’ Apple label, and John and Yoko’s ‘Plastic Ono Band’), which he founded in 1984, has published over 150 titles and the 240-page A-Z compilation, The Earl is in: 25 Years of the Earl of Seacliff (ed. Mark Pirie, 2009), documents O’Leary’s versatile and influential oeuvre. Michael O’Leary is a trustee for the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa (PANZA), a charitable trust dedicated to archiving, collecting and promoting New Zealand poetry. He now lives in Paekakariki, north of Wellington, and is at present working with local musicians on musical interpretations of his poetry.