THE WALL OF FACES

R.I.P John proud to have known you, way back in the 60's now also have the honour of being friends with your daughter Mandy, the boys are still playing in the band a couple of times a year, you missed out on so much. but l will always remember the shy boy at the cavern, sleep tight, You'v got to love your HIDEAWAY.. xx

John Robert SHELL, dob 9 April 1947 in Dallas TX but attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys entering the school aged 11 in Sept. 1958 and was in Forms (classes) 3D, 4B, L5B, U5B, RA and left school in 1963. John Shell was around the school at the same time as Paul McCartney and George Harrison - though 4 and 5 years junior to them.

Soon after school he was part of locally well known rock group, the Hideaways whose times were captured in a book about early years of Liverpool post-Beatles music, entitled BEAT IN LIVERPOOL published in Germany and authored by Seuss, Juergen - Gerold Dommermuth with text in Dutch.

"With numerous touching b/w illustrations in black-and-white giving a nice image of Liverpool in the Sixties i.a. the Cavern Club in Mathew Street. The Dutch edition. Loosely inserted in the back rear a single disc with on the A-side ‘The Clayton Squares’; ‘The Hideaways’ at the Sink Club performing Black Night & Momma, keep your big mouth shut, in photo-illustrated sleeve. Nice and rare complete copy including d/j + disc.
"During the spring of 1965 we met two gentlemen from the Netherlands {?]. They were putting together a book to be titled ‘Beat in Liverpool’. The main focus of the book was to follow around two local Liverpool groups – mainly, actually, the Clayton Squares – and the Hideaways. The pair came to several Hideaway gigs around the city, namely the Cavern, the Iron Door, the Way Down, the Mardi Gras and the Sink Club. I can’t recall if they recorded us at all of the clubs mentioned (I seem to remember the equipment being a tape recorder over the shoulder and a hand held microphone thrust into the air in the middle of the audience!) – but I think not.
...
If I may fast forward to the mid-1970s, when working as a sales rep. (a proper job), I heard about a book only available on the continent about the Liverpool scene of the mid-1960s. Of course, by this time there was nothing particularly unusual about that, but I also heard that a disc was included with this book containing a recording of previously unheard live tracks from the Clayton Squares and the Hideaways. I asked friends and fellow musicians to find a copy for me but all to no avail. It was not until the late 1980s that a good friend – Dave Carlyle – discovered one and purchased it for me.
I was a little disappointed to begin with: the book was written in Dutch. However I eventually gleaned a great deal from the text with careful reading and the superb photographs in stark black and white were very atmospheric. There were many photos of the Clayton Squares, of course, but there were also several of the Hideaways. Of particular poignancy were the shots of our bass player John Shell in our favourite meeting place, the Kardomah Café on Whitechapel. John could be seen with his then girl friend Elaine Curtis. They were, in fact, married shortly after these photographs were taken. Sadly (tragically, in fact), John was to lose his life in the Vietnam War (he was born in Dallas in 1947) leaving Elaine a teenage widow and a new-born daughter.

I live in Canada am writing a book about the school and would welcome any remembrances of John.
ICT

Dear PFC John Robert Shell, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

John was a musician in an English rock band called the Hideaways. We became pen pals when I was just a young teenybopper following his music. We corresponded for many years before he went in the military and throughout his service. He was a wonderful person and I will miss him all my life. I'm hoping his daughter will contact me. My e-mail to her did not go through.BR

John Shell was my Father. I was 18 months old when he was killed in Vietnam, I therefore never had the chance to know him. All my life from when I was a little girl, I was always so proud of my Dad. I will never know him, but he will always be in my thoughts, always on a pedestal. He would now be a Grandfather to my little boy. My son will also, from the information I have learned about him, love him.

Rest in peace Dad

your loving Daughter - Amanda xx