John and Yoko's bed in
The global press were in for a surprise when John Lennon and Yoko Ono invited them to their Honeymoon hotel room.
In March 1969, John and Yoko set about bringing a message of peace to the world from their bed in the Amsterdam Hilton hotel. They vowed to stay in bed for a whole week in what they called a 'bed-in for peace'. It certainly drew a lot of media attention to their message of peace and in particular their stance against the war in Vietnam.
Take a look at our video from our previous exhibition Double Fantasy: John & Yoko to hear more about the protest.
This wasn't the couple's only bed-in. A few months later on 26 May 1969, John and Yoko checked into room 1742 of Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Here they started their next week long peace protest, to continue the momentum of the first. Along with Yoko's five-year-old daughter Kyoko, they entertained guests including U.S. black civil rights advocate Dick Gregory, Quebec separatist Jacques Larue-Langlois and American cartoonist Al Capp. It was at the end of this bed-in that a historic and spontaneous performance of 'Give Peace a Chance' was recorded.
Here at the museum, we're very proud to hold a piece from this moment in history, the 'All You Need is Love' bedspread from the Montreal bed-in for peace. To prepare it for display tiny supporting stitches have been made to key areas - a delicate process which involves passing the needle through the fabric from one person to the other, without being ever able to see each other. Too small to notice, these stitches play an important role in supporting this important object from history.
Here's another video from Double Fantasy to explain the story behind the bedspread, which you can now view in the Wondrous Place gallery at Museum of Liverpool.