BEATLES' LSD DENTIST NAMED (Wizbang Pop!)

The dentist who introduced John Lennon and George Harrison to LSD in 1965 has always been an anonymous figure. In the Beatles Anthology George referred to him only as "the wicked dentist." Now a book has been published that reveals the identity of the man who unwittingly helped to turn on the world.

In The Gospel According to the Beatles, author Steve Turner reveals that the dentist was John Riley who had a practice on Harley Street and lived in a ground floor apartment in Strathearn Place near Bayswater Road. It was in this apartment that Riley slipped the hallucinogenic drug into the boys' coffees after a meal. They would never be the same again.

Riley was killed in a car accident in 1986 but Turner managed to interview two of his ex-wives. He also spoke to Cynthia Lennon and Pattie Harrison, both of whom were victims of the original trip.

"When you go for dinner with your dentist you don't imagine a professional man would do something like that," Cynthia told him. "He could easily have killed us."

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Comments (1)

I was a friend of John Rile... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by Hugh O'Neill | September 9, 2006 10:14 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)

Hugh O'Neill:

I was a friend of John Riley and feel quiet sad at the amount of nonsense that is appearing in national newspapers and the internet in relation to this alledged incident at a dinner party involving members of the Beatles and Dr.John Riley. Dr.John Riley recounted the story of that dinner party to me and his version of events differs greatly. In short, he did not spike the Beatles drink. They always ‘got the wrong end of the stick’ regarding what happened that night he told me.

Dr.John Riley was a well respected dentist who happened to be George Harrison’s dentist. He was also a friend of Harrison. I have no reason not to believe his version of events. Cynthia Lennon’s comments taken from this book are outrageous and would not have been printed if Dr.Riley were still alive.