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Yoko: A Biography

As David Sheff’s new biography reveals, decades of suspicion aimed at the provocative artist, musician and widow have obscured her psychology from view.

For an idea of how difficult her presence could be, watch her 1972 performance on The Mike Douglas Show of “Memphis Tennessee” with Lennon and Chuck Berry: the screaming stopped only when the engineers pulled the plug on her mic. Ian Leslie, in his book John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, reviewed in these pages last week, puts forward a theory with regards to the relationship that swallowed Lennon up like a whale. On 8 December Annie Leibovitz took her famous photo which captured their relationship as far as Lennon was concerned: naked, in the foetal position, he gripped Ono’s body: “A portrait of a couple in which the man finally let his guard down after suffering from machismo that nearly killed him,” writes Sheff.

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