Jimmy Reid born in Govan
Jimmy Reid is born on 9 July 1932 in Govan to parents Leo and Isabella Reid. Jimmy was the youngest of seven children. Three of his sisters died in infancy leading to his scathing accusation that their cause of death should be "killed by capitalism".
It was a formative family heartbreak which had propelled Reid to life as a political activist...
Yoko Ono born
The full story behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s donation...Tariq Ali born in Lahore
Tariq Ali was born and raised in Lahore, Punjab in British India (now part of Pakistan). He is the son of journalist Mazhar Ali Khan and activist mother Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan.
Ali's mother was the daughter of Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, who led the Unionist Muslim League and was later Prime Minister of the Punjab from 1937 to 1942.
Ali's...
John Lennon born in Liverpool
John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool on the 9 October 1940.
Lennon was born at Liverpool Maternity Hospital to Julia (née Stanley) (1914–1958) and Alfred Lennon (1912–1976).
Alfred was a merchant seaman of Irish descent who was away at the time of his son's birth. His parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal...
Reid joins Communist Party
Jimmy Reid joins the Communist Party aged 15.
Biographers said it was the library rather than the classroom that shaped Govan-born Jimmy and his political activism.
Read the full blog: The Beatle, The Bankie & The Bouquet .
The full story behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s donation to Clyde shipbuilders of the UCS in 1971 as he...Reid moves to London as young communist leader
Jimmy Reid becomes National Chair of Young Communist League (YCL) and moves to London to take up the full-time party post.
On the 9 August 1958 – while still living in London – Jimmy marries Joan Swankie at Old Kilpatrick Register Office selling golf clubs to pay for the bar tab…which still ran out, causing an argument between the...
John rattles royal conventions with jewellery joke
On November 4, 1963 the Beatles perform at the Royal Variety Performance in London attended by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Prior to ripping into a rousing rendition of their closing number, Lennon said, “For our last number I’d like to ask your help.
Poking fun at the royal guests in the Prince of Wales...
Jimmy Reid settles in Faifley
In 1964 Jimmy Reid, who had been working in London decides to move back to Scotland and, despite being born and hailing from Govan, settles in the Faifley district of Clydebank with his wife Joan and young family. His father Leo had died in 1962.
By 1965, following his return to Clydebank, Jimmy is elected to the full time post of Scottish...
Beatles reject racial segregation
The Beatles were booked to play at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964.
But when they found out the crowd would be racially segregated the band threatened to cancel the gig. The promoters backed down.
The policy was in defiance of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson that...
Tariq Ali elected President of the Oxford Union
Tariq Ali is elected President of the Oxford Union in 1965. Ali's tenure at the Union included a meeting with Malcolm X in December 1964 during which Malcolm X expressed deep consternation about his own risk of assassination.
In 1967 Ali was one of 64 prominent figures, including the Beatles, who signed a petition calling for the...