Fred Seaman was John Lennon's personal assistant from 1979 until his death in December 1980. Since then, he's written a book about the late Beatle, appeared on television programs where he was billed as "an expert on Lennon's childhood and adultlife" and been sued by Yoko Ono for violating his confidentiality agreement and failing to return the photographs, journals and letters he took out of Lennon's Manhattan apartment building during his two years working for the musician. Now he's claiming the man who wrote "Mean Mr. Mustard" was a closet Republican and big fan of the Gipper.

In a interview for an upcoming Beatles documentary, Seaman discussed Lennon's alleged conservative streak in greater detail. Some of the noteworthy quotes, as highlighted by the Toronto Sun:

• "John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter."
• "He'd met Reagan back, I think, in the 70s at some sporting event... Reagan was the guy who had ordered the National Guard, I believe, to go after the young (peace) demonstrators in Berkeley, so I think that John maybe forgot about that... He did express support for Reagan, which shocked me."
• "I also saw John embark in some really brutal arguments with my uncle, who's an old-time communist... He enjoyed really provoking my uncle... Maybe he was being provocative... but it was pretty obvious to me he had moved away from his earlier radicalism."
• "He was a very different person back in 1979 and 80 than he'd been when he wrote Imagine. By 1979 he looked back on that guy and was embarrassed by that guy's naivete."

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Ray Gustini