Oh no, Yoko, that really does sound loco . . .
NEXT week sees the opening of Yoko Ono: Music Of The Mind at Tate Modern, described as ‘the UK’s largest exhibition celebrating key moments in Ono’s groundbreaking, influential and multidisciplinary career, from the mid-1950s to now’.
Test your knowledge of Yoko Ono with this quiz.
1. Asked to name her favourite Beatles song, Yoko Ono replied:
a) I Want You. b) She Loves You. c) Revolution No 9. d) Yellow Submarine.
2. In a questionnaire for the Guardian in 2014, what was Yoko’s answer to the question: ‘Which living person do you most admire, and why?’
a) ‘Me, because I know me best.’ b) ‘Queen Elizabeth II. I know how she feels.’ c) ‘Edith Piaf. Like me, she had no regrets.’ d) ‘Mahatma
Gandhi. Like me, he stood for peace.’
3. In an earlier questionnaire, Yoko was asked for her earliest memory. What did she reply?
a) ‘Lying in my pram, looking up at the clouds, knowing I was an artist.’ b) ‘Speaking my first word at the age of 18 months. It was “serendipity”.’ c) ‘Slipping out of my mother’s thighs and looking at surgical instruments on a table in an operating theatre.’ d) ‘Smiling for peace.’
4. She has always claimed that, before she met John Lennon, she had barely heard of The Beatles, and could name only one of them. Which one?
a) Ringo Starr b) George Harrison c) Paul McCartney d) John Lennon
5. In his memoir Up Front, Lennon’s friend Victor Spinetti remembers visiting The Beatles in the Abbey Road studio, shortly after Yoko Ono arrived on the scene. Their roadie, Mal Evans, asked them what they wanted to eat, and they asked for bacon butties. But then Yoko arrived. What did she say?
a) ‘Extra ketchup on mine, please, Mal.’ b) ‘I prefer to eat the sky, but first you must spread it with clouds.’ c) ‘John only eats food I prepare.’ d) ‘Don’t worry, I’ll eat George and Paul’s biscuits.’
6. As a child, Yoko won a fancy dress competition. Who or what did she go dressed as?
a) Shirley Temple b) A cloud c) Minnie Mouse d) A dandelion
7. In her 1964 book, Grapefruit, Yoko Ono offered words of wisdom. Which one of these was not in the book?
a) Throw a stone into the sky high enough so it will not come back. b) Draw a line with yourself. Go on drawing until you disappear. c) Get a telephone that only echoes back your voice. Call every day and talk about many things. d) Peel an apricot. Place it on your toes. Put on a sock and walk to work. Your foot may be messy, but the sky will still be blue.
8. Yoko continues to share her wisdom on Twitter. Which one of these nuggets is not by her?
a) Make a net. Catch a cloud. Place the cloud in a bottle and send it out to sea. b) Hammer a nail in the centre of a piece of glass. Send each fragment to an arbitrary address. c) Make a promise to a tree. Ask it to be passed on to other trees. d) Imagine letting a goldfish swim across the sky. Let it swim from the West to the East. Drink a litre of water.
9. Yoko Ono is the only woman ever to sing a solo on a Beatles song. Which song?
a) The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill b) Octopus’s Garden c) I’m So Tired d) Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
10. What was the line she sang?
a) ‘All the children sing’ b) ‘Not when he looked so fierce’ c) ‘He went out tiger hunting’ d) ‘In case of accidents he always took his mum’
11. In The Ballad Of John And Yoko, in which city do John and Yoko eat ‘chocolate cake in a bag’?
a) Amsterdam b) Vienna c) Paris d) London
12. In the same song, John and Yoko also fly home with a sack. What does it contain?
a) 10 bananas b) 50 acorns c) 100 dollars d) 200 butterflies
Answers: 1d; 2a; 3c; 4a; 5c; 6a; 7d; 8a; 9a; 10b; 11b; 12b.