John, Yoko and...Gail Renard

In The Times, Luke Leitch tells how Guild TV Committee Chair, Gail Renard, met John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Montreal in 1969.

When the security guards changed shift, Gail says: “We rushed and knocked on the door and Yoko answered. She was with her daughter, Kyoko, who must have been 5. I remember Yoko saying, ‘Come in' - and finding myself in a room with John Lennon. It was overwhelming. They had been travelling and he was very hungry, and for some reason they couldn't get room service. I had chocolate in my handbag, and I said, ‘Do you want the chocolate bar?' It sounds daft, but he was touched, and said, ‘Really?' We got to chatting.”

Instead of turfing her out, Lennon asked Gail if she wanted to conduct a radio interview with him. The problem, he said, was that it wouldn't be until that evening: could she stick around? “I had to ring my mother. She ended up speaking to John. You wouldn't want to cross my mother - a tough little lady.” Permission granted, Gail joined the entourage and ended up staying for the week-long bed-in, going home only at night.

Update: One other minor detail, Lennon gave Gail the handwritten lyrics of Give Peace A Chance...