One of the greatest moments in modern musical history took place on this date in 1969 in Montreal. John Lennon and Yoko were in the midst of their famous “Bed-in” for peace at that city’s Queen Elizabeth hotel when Lennon was asked what the real purpose of his Yoko's sleep-in truly was. He answered to “Give peace a chance,” and for good measure, repeated the phrases a few times. They rest, as they say, is history.
The eight-day bed-in also had a political twist. Future Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister, Allan Rock, then a youthful University of Ottawa student, talked his way into the suite during John and Yoko’s stay at the storied hotel and got to meet Lennon and his wife.
For my part, and during my service as a speechwriter to Canada's Beatles' fan-in-chief, the Rt. Hon. Stephen J. Harper, I briefly visited the Queen Elizabeth Hotel’s guestroom where John and Yoko had made history. I remain in the debt of the Karsh-like members of the PMO photography unit (the legendary trio that is Deb and Jason Ransom and Jill Thompson), for preserving the evidence that I had been there. Thanks to them, with an assist from Mr. Harper, I no longer have to imagine…
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.