Editing Pete Best (section)

== Early life ==
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Best's mother, [[Mona Best]], was born in Delhi, India, the daughter of Thomas (a major from [[Ireland]]) and Mary Shaw.{{sfn|Goldsmith|2004|p=35}} Pete Best, her first child, was born on 24 November 1941 in [[Chennai|Madras]], then part of [[British Raj|British India]]. Best's biological father was marine engineer Donald Peter Scanland, who subsequently died during [[World War II]].{{sfn|Curley|2005|pp=23–24}} Best's mother was training to become a doctor in the service of the [[Red Cross]] when she met Johnny Best, who came from a family of sports promoters in Liverpool who ran [[Liverpool Stadium]], a boxing arena.{{sfn|Best|2003|p=1}}<ref>Snell, Rob (30 June 2007). "[https://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=27 Johnny Best] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115129/http://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=27 |date=26 August 2014 }}". ''Boxing Biographies''. Retrieved 22 August 2014.</ref> During World War II, Johnny Best was a [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned officer]] serving as a [[Physical Training Instructor]] in India and was the Army's middleweight boxing champion.{{sfn|Best|2003|p=1}} Soon after their marriage on 7 March 1944 at St Thomas's Cathedral, [[Bombay]], Rory Best was born.<ref name="PeteBestBiog">[https://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/zBeatlesfactfiles/beatlesfactfilesindex.htm Pest Best biog] iol.ie/~beatlesireland – Retrieved 7 November 2007 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021201349/http://www.iol.ie/~beatlesireland/zBeatlesfactfiles/beatlesfactfilesindex.htm |date=21 October 2007 }}</ref> In 1945, the Best family sailed for four weeks to Liverpool on the ''[[MV Georgic (1931)|Georgic]]'', the last troop ship to leave India, carrying single and married soldiers who had previously been a part of [[William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim|General William Slim]]'s forces in south-east Asia. The ship docked in Liverpool on 25 December 1945.{{sfn|Best|2003|p=17}}<ref>[http://www.red-duster.co.uk/WSTAR11.htm General Sir William Slim and the Georgic] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212224608/http://www.red-duster.co.uk/WSTAR11.htm |date=12 December 2007 }} red-duster.co.uk – Retrieved 26 November 2007</ref>

Best's family lived for a short time at the family home, "Ellerslie" in [[West Derby]] until Best's mother fell out with her sister-in-law, Edna, who resented her brother's choice of wife.{{sfn|Best|2003|p=21}} The family then moved to a small flat on Cases Street, Liverpool, but Mona Best was always looking for a large house—as she had been used to in India—instead of one of the smaller [[semi-detached]] houses prevalent in the area. The Bests moved to 17 Queenscourt Road in 1948 and remained there for nine years.<ref name=BT>[https://www.beatlestours.co.uk/Pete%20Best.htm 17 Queenscourt Road] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028143752/http://www.beatlestours.co.uk/Pete%20Best.htm |date=28 October 2007 }}, beatlestours.co.uk – Retrieved 1 December 2007</ref>

Best passed the [[eleven plus exam]] at Blackmoor Park primary school in West Derby and was studying at the [[Liverpool Collegiate School|Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School]] in Shaw Street when he decided he wanted to be in a music group. Mona bought him a drum kit from Blackler's music store, and Best formed his own band, the Black Jacks.{{Sfn|Spitz|2005|p=161}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/liverpoolcollegiate|title=Welcome to ICONS – Icons of England|work=icons.org.uk|access-date=6 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717051000/http://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/liverpoolcollegiate|archive-date=17 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eskimo.com/~bpentium/beatles/besttape/besttape.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990128003631/http://www.eskimo.com/~bpentium/beatles/besttape/besttape.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 January 1999|title=Pete Best Interview Video Tape|date=28 January 1999|access-date=16 August 2018}}</ref> 

In 1957, Rory Best saw a large Victorian house for sale at 8 Hayman's Green and told Mona about it.<ref name=BT/> The Best family claim that Mona had pawned all her jewellery to place a bet on [[Never Say Die (horse)|Never Say Die]], a horse that was ridden by [[Lester Piggott]] in the 1954 [[Epsom Derby]]; it won at 33–1, and she saved her winnings and in 1957 used them to buy the house.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=161}} The house, built around 1860, had previously been owned by the West Derby [[Association of Conservative Clubs|Conservative Club]] and was unlike many other family houses in Liverpool as it was set back from the road and had 15 bedrooms and an acre of land.{{sfn|Best|2003|p=16}}{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=57}} All the rooms were painted dark green or brown, and the large garden was totally overgrown.<ref name="TheCasbahClub">[http://www.samleach.com/photos_beatles.html Photos of The Casbah Club] at SamLeach.com. Retrieved 10 October 2007  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030204140244/http://www.samleach.com/photos_beatles.html |date=4 February 2003 }}</ref> Mona later opened [[The Casbah Coffee Club]] in the house's large cellar. The idea for the club first came from Best, as he asked his mother for somewhere his friends could meet and listen to the popular music of the day.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=161}} As The Quarrymen, [[John Lennon]], [[Paul McCartney]], [[George Harrison]], and [[Ken Brown (musician)|Ken Brown]] played at the club after helping Mona to finish painting the walls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=This Week in 1959 - Casbah Club Opening Night |url=https://www.genesis-publications.com/news/this-week-in-1959-casbah-club-opening-night-special-offer/3108 |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=Genesis Publications |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshxHmknFcQ Anthology Zero: The Beatles at their Best] [[YouTube]].</ref> [[Chas Newby]] and Bill Barlow joined the Black Jacks, as did Ken Brown, but only after he had left the Quarrymen.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=4–5,164–165}}{{sfn|Davies|1996|pp=30}} The Black Jacks later became the resident group at the Casbah, after the Quarrymen cancelled their residency because of an argument about money.<ref name=CynthiaJohnp44>Lennon, Cynthia. ''John'', 2006, p.44.</ref>

In 1960, [[Neil Aspinall]] became good friends with the young Best and rented a room in the Bests' house. During one of the extended business trips of Best's stepfather, Aspinall became romantically involved with Mona and in 1962, a son, Vincent Roag Best, was born to Aspinall and Mona.<ref name=CynthiaJohnp44 /> Aspinall later became the Beatles' road manager and denied the story for years before publicly admitting that Roag was indeed his son.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6551609.stm |title=Faces of the Week: Neil Aspinall |date=13 April 2007 |first=Bob |last=Chaundy |publisher=BBC News |access-date=25 June 2015}}</ref>