History
Mona Shaw was born on 3 January 1924, in Delhi, and married John Best in India before moving with him and their two children, Pete Best (b. 1941) and Rory Best (b. 1944) back to Liverpool in 1945, where they lived in various houses. After moving to Queenscourt Road in 1948—where the Bests lived for nine years—Mona was told by Rory about a large Victorian house for sale at 8 Hayman's Green, in 1954. The Best family claim that Mona then pawned all her jewellery and placed a bet on a horse that was ridden by Lester Piggott in the 1954 Epsom Derby called, "Never Say Die", which won at 33-1, and used her winnings to buy the house in 1957. Note: To place the bet, Mona would have had to travel more than 220 miles (350 km) from Liverpool to Epsom (as bets were only allowed at race tracks at the time) or placed the bet with an illegal bookmaker in Liverpool. The house (built around 1860 by an unknown architect), had previously been owned by the West Derby Conservative Club, and was unlike many other family dwellings in Liverpool, as it was set back from the road, had 15 bedrooms and 1 acre (4,000 m2) of land. All the rooms were painted dark green or brown, the garden was totally overgrown, and the cellar was used for storing coal.
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