Originally Posted by pmw_hewitt:
“I think you may very well win this thread, Ann_Tenna - not only did you meet someone very famous but also whilst they were, in a sense, making history. In Lennon's defence he was off his face on Lord-knows-what at the time. I don't think he was a particularly bad person, but he was that unpleasant mix of self-important and self-hating.
Yoko, I've never actually heard a bad word about from anyone that has met her on a superficial level. Again, I don't believe the tripe about Yoko being a bad person at all. As I said earlier in this thread, I did meet her earlier this year after she hosted a talk about her new book. She politely declined photos and autographs, as it was getting late and she wanted to rush off to get some dinner, but the most surprising thing about Yoko is how shy, unsure and softly spoken she is in person, completely the opposite of what you'd expect from the media-fuelled "dragon lady" persona.
It's well known that Yoko is fiercely intelligent, manipulative when she wants to be, and has a marked talent for money-making and negotiation, but she has never come across as a particularly confident, extroverted person. She was also wonderfully self-deprecating both times I've seen her.
Sorry to ramble, but I find her an endlessly fascinating person - and I like her music, too. She's massively overdue a reappraisal.”
My sister, for years, has done music lessons at Dovedale primary school in Liverpool (the primary school which Lennon and Harrison attended. In that time Yoko Ono has been incredibly generous with the school in terms of both with time and money,
She has visited the school on multiple occasions to open various things or for special celebrations, at one stage donated £25,000 to the school and also rather brilliantly donated a huge 'walking piano' to the school (I've heard that it is the actual one used in the movie Big, but I can't be certain of this).
Considering she met John once he had moved to London and has no reason to feel any ties to his childhood home and school, it is incredible that she has always kept it in her thoughts and helped when possible.
I agree, a re-appraisal of her is definitely overdue, and the above should go some way to showing the class of the lady.