Born in Blackpool on 10 September 1939 Cynthia Powell grew up first in Liverpool before moving to Hoylake, the Wirral, at the outbreak of the Second World War. She has two elder brothers, Tony and Charles.
Cynthia attended the Junior Art School in Liverpool from the age of 12. When she was 18 she began her course at Liverpool College of Art which is where she first met John Lennon. Initially she was wary of him - he was quite different to any other young man she had met - scruffy, disruptive in class and just a bit rough around the edges.
At an end of term dance John asked Cynthia to dance and that was the beginning of their eight years together. They were virtually inseparable until John and the Beatles went to Hamburg in 1960.
On their return Cynthia found herself pregnant. John asked her to marry him and the ceremony took place at Mount Pleasant Register Office on 23 August 1962 with Brian Epstein as best man. John's family refused to attend. Brian Epstein treated everyone to a wedding breakfast at Reece's Restaurant in Clayton Square and as a wedding present gave the newly-weds the use of his private apartment.
The Beatles were on the brink of fame and away working nearly every night; added to that Brian insisted that the marriage remain a secret, so Cynthia was left by herself most of the time.
After complications arose with the pregnancy Cynthia moved out of Epstein's apartment and in with John's Aunt Mimi. Their son Julian was born at 7.45 am on 8 April 1963. It was a week before John saw his son.
Initially Cynthia and baby Julian moved back in with Mimi, but after a few months Cynthia took up her mother, Lillian's, invitation to come and live with her at Hoylake. John and the Beatles continued to tour. Before long though the secret of John and Cynthia's marriage and the birth of their baby was out in the open. They moved to London, but the fans found out where they lived and they were besieged. Eventually the family moved to 'Kenwood', Weybridge in July 1964.
Cynthia believes that it was LSD that caused the beginning of the end of their marriage. Now Yoko had entered their lives and in August 1968 Cynthia filed for divorce. The divorce was granted on 8 November 1968. Cynthia was only 28.
Two years later Cynthia married Italian hotelier, Roberto Bassanini. The marriage lasted three years and after that she decided to return to Cheshire. She and Julian settled in a cottage in Ruthin, North Wales. In 1976 Cynthia married John Twist, an engineer from Lancashire. They were together for five years. After this Cynthia changed her name back to Lennon by deed poll.
By 1984 Cynthia was living near Penrith in Cumbria with a new partner, Liverpudlian Jim Christie.
Over the years Cynthia has worked on several projects including running several restaurants, designing textiles and clothes. She wrote her autobiography 'A Twist Of Lennon' in 1978, which featured her unique pen and ink drawings. In recent years Cynthia has returned to her career as an artist. In 1999 she and her long time friend Phyllis McKenzie held an exhibition of their work at a London gallery.
Presently Cynthia lives in Europe with her husband Noel Charles.