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John Lennon's past...
In the early 1800's John Lennon earned part of his living singing in pubs around the West of Ireland. His two sons were born in Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. John and his wife Elizabeth took their boys and emigrated to America. Their son Jack Lennon became an accomplished musician and singer. He established a reputation as a popular soloist when he toured the United States with 'Andrew Robertson's Kentucky Minstrels' during the 1890's. Jack returned to Liverpool, England and after his first wife died he married Mary 'Polly' McGuire. She bore him eight children, six of whom survived.
John's grandparents
When Jack died in 1921 his son Alfred Lennon was seven years old. Alfred was raised in a local orphanage. At the age of 14 he ran away from the orphanage and joined 'Will Murray's Gang', a popular children's troupe. He was soon caught and returned to the orphanage.
Alfred grew up to be a very handsome young man, and when the time came to leave the orphanage he found work on board the old liners of the 1930s. Alfred would occasionally black-up to do a very impressive impersonation of Al Jolson.
In 1930 while walking through a park in Liverpool he met the attractive and bubbly Julia Stanley. "I was sitting in Sefton Park with a mate who was showing me how to pick up girls … There was this little waif that we had an eye on. As I walked past her, she said: 'You look silly'. I said: 'You look lovely!' and I sat down beside her."
Alfred and Julia hit it off from the beginning. They were carefree and had great fun together. Alfred spent a lot of time at Julia's parents' home and was liked by the family. Stanley Parkes, John's cousin, remembers the cheery Alf with affection. "Alf and Julia used to walk me out in my pram as an excuse to go out courting together in Sefton Park, Princess Park and Calderstones Park in Liverpool." Although Alfred was flat broke at the time, eight years after they first met, they decided to get married and the wedding took place at the Bolton Street Registry Office on 3 December 1938. "I said we had to put up the banns and get married properly. She said: 'I bet you won't!' So I did - just for a joke. It was all a big laugh getting married." Within a few days Alfred joined the crew of a Mediterranean cruise liner. On his return, he and Julia moved in to their new home in the Penny Lane district of Liverpool with Julia's parents.
The Liverpool docklands were a primary target for Germany's Luftwaffe. Air raids were commonplace and sirens wailed warning of an attack on 9 October, 1940 as Julia Lennon gave birth to John Lennon. Night after night German bombs rained down on Liverpool and often Julia, her newborn baby and her family took refuge in a nearby makeshift bomb shelter. Mimi: "I knew the moment I first set eyes on John that he was going to be something special."
John with his mother Julia
Alfred was rarely home as he was often at sea with the merchant navy.
In a communal spirit that can only exist in time of war, civilians and servicemen drank, sang, danced and made merry. Often Julia joined them, sometimes leaving the young John Lennon in the care of her unmarried sister Anne (Nanny) who was happy to baby-sit.
Julia returned to her parent's house in Penny Lane in 1943. On 14 July, Alfred sailed for New York but for whatever reason missed the return sailing and was subsequently posted AWOL. The first Julia knew of this was when her money was stopped and she was told by the authorities that they were looking for him. Nothing was heard from Alfred until he reappeared at the end of 1944.
The story goes that during this time Alfred had sailed from America to North Africa, was arrested by a shore patrol for drinking beer that had not been issued by the ship, and served nine days in a gruesome military prison. On his release, broke and alone, he became involved in mysterious shady dealings and at one point was rescued from a criminal gang of Arabs. He eventually served on a ship ferrying troops from North Africa to Italy and from there he secured passage on a ship making its way to England.
During this period, Julia and her baby were kept by her father and sister Anne. On Alfred's return, Julia's father asked him how he thought his wife and child had been faring and Alfred replied: "I knew she had you." Julia told her husband to get lost and their marriage was to end soon afterwards.
In the spring of 1944 Julia met a Welsh soldier by the name of Taffy Williams. They saw each other regularly for six months until Julia discovered she was pregnant with his child. Taffy wanted Julia to come and live with him but wasn't willing to take John. Julia wouldn't abandon her son and the lovers parted.
So Alfred Lennon returned to Liverpool after an absence of 18 months to discover his wife was carrying another man's baby. His brother Charles recalled: "He told me that he had come home and found her six weeks gone but not showing. Alfred decided to take John to my other brother, Sydney, in Maghull. Never at any time did he want Julia's sister, Mary [Mimi], to have control over John."
Julia's father, George Stanley, demanded that Julia give up the expected baby or leave his house. This was the way things were in those days. Julia finally agreed - she had no choice. Victoria, born on 19 June 1945, was adopted into the family of a Norwegian sea captain. Julia's sister Anne recalled: "She was a beautiful baby but we never knew who the father was … One day a Salvation Army Captain came and took the baby away. That was the last we saw of her."
Alfred had hoped that he, Julia and their infant John could make a fresh start, but a man who could offer her a considerably better life than she was accustomed to with Alfred was soon courting Julia.
John 'Bobby' Dykins began spending a good deal of time visiting Julia. But John didn't take to him at first and showed that he was very unhappy about a new man hanging around the house. He became angry and rough, sometimes attacking smaller children. In April 1946, at the age of five and a half John was expelled from kindergarten for misbehaviour. In time the relationship between John and 'Bobby' got better.
Time and again John ran away from home to make his way to his Aunt Mimi's house, sometimes getting lost on route. On one occasion Mimi phoned Alfred to tell him of his son's plight. Although on the eve of a sailing on the Queen Mary, Alfred dropped everything and dashed to Mimi's house. Alfred announced he was taking his son on a holiday. Father and son left for the popular coastal resort of Blackpool with Alfred harbouring the secret intention of never going back. His plan was to emigrate to Australia or New Zealand. But Julia arrived without warning, desperate to confront Alfred. The ensuing argument ended with their son being asked to choose between them. Alfred remembers: "He runs out and jumps on my knee, asking if she's coming back. That's obviously what he wanted. I said no, he had to decide whether to stay with me or go with her … John ran after her. That was the last I saw or heard of him until I was told he'd become a Beatle." John Lennon chose to be with his mother.
John and his Aunt Mimi
Julia and 'Bobby' Dykins set up home together in a small flat in Gateacre where John joined them. 'Bobby' was happy to accept John as part of the package. However, once again Julia's sister Mimi demonstrated her determined and forceful personality. She didn't feel that the accommodation was good enough for John and she subsequently turned up with a social worker and John's grandfather in tow. Initially the social worker felt it was in John's best interests to be with his mother, but when it was pointed out to her that the flat only had one bedroom, she handed John to his grandfather, who promptly handed him to Mimi!
Alfred Lennon went back to sea. He worked continuously for a year and a half. With thoughts of reclaiming John he came ashore but got drunk, was arrested and imprisoned. His conviction barred him from returning to sea and at age thirty-two he virtually became a vagabond, drifting around the UK and mostly working in hotel kitchens.
Alfred wouldn't re-enter John's life until his son gained fame as the founder member of the Beatles. John said: "I soon forgot my father, it was like he was dead."
However he said of Julia: "I did see my mother now and again, and my feeling never died off for her. I often thought of her … She [Mimi] said she was a long, long way away." In fact Julia lived a mere three miles away.
John Lennon's early years in primary school were troubled. Often other kids were scared off by his threatening manner. One kid stood up to John's bullying and they became friends for life. Pete Shotton was eight years old, a year younger than John. In response to a threat from John, Pete replied: "You'll have to catch me first." After a short pause both boys burst into laughter. Pete says of John: "I have never met a personality as strong and individualist as John's, he always had to have a partner."
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The 'bigger than Jesus' incident...
Christianity
Lennon: I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have got away with it, but I just happened to be talking to a journalist friend, and I used the words "Beatles" as a remote thing, not as what I think  as Beatles, as those other Beatles, like other people see us. I just said "they" are having more influence on kids and things than anything else, including Jesus. But I said it in that way, which is the wrong way.
Reporter: Some teenagers have repeated your statements  "I like the Beatles more than Jesus Christ." What do you think about that?
Lennon: Well, originally I pointed out that fact in reference to England. That we meant more to kids than Jesus did, or religion at that time. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact, and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing, or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this.
Reporter: But are you prepared to apologise?
Lennon: I wasn't saying whatever they're saying I was saying. I'm sorry I said it really. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologise if that will make you happy. I still don't know quite what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do, but if you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry.
The Vatican accepted his apology, but the Southern Baptist Convention (the predominant religion in the U.S. Bible Belt) did not. Lennon wrote later, "I always remember to thank Jesus for the end of my touring days; if I hadn't said that the Beatles were 'bigger than Jesus' and upset the very Christian Ku Klux Klan, well, Lord, I might still be up there with all the other performing fleas! God bless America. Thank you, Jesus."
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An interview from 1971...
Interviewer - Yesterday, John, you became 31 years old. Do you have any thoughts or reflections about growing older?
John- The first thing I think of is Yoko and I as a nice old couple, right off the coast of Ireland or somethin' like that. That's the initial dream. I don't have any fear of age. I am looking forward to it. Maybe I won't be so frantic when I'm older or both of us will be less frantic or we'll be taking life easy. I like thinking of what I might be doing then. I certainly don't wish I was any younger. My Auntie Mimi used to always say to me that 30 is a right age for a man. I always figured it was a line of bull. But in a way, she was right. It's a good age because you're sort of not old and you've had some experience and it's like they used to say: you've become a man of the world, and you don't have to travel the world to do that. I keep hearing Dennis Hopper call it moment to moment realities and that's what it is all about;just this minute. I don't think that age really matters. It's like a weather report.
Interviewer - I'm curious if you have become more frightened of the world?
John- Oh, age has made me dribble off and I'd forgotten what you were talking about. I'm always sort of frightened of the world, that's for sure, but I'm not struggling with it so much and not puzzling about it so much. I'm just getting on with it
Interviewer - John, you have pretty much given up now on dope and God and politics. What are the things you do now to get yourself high?
John - I wouldn't say I've given up politics in that way. I mean, I never took up politics. Things I do or for that matter that anybody does are done politically. Any statement you make is a political statement. Any record, even your way of life is a political statement. So in that way, I haven't given up politics. I get high by working. There's some old cliche that I used to despise: work is noble or some jazz like that. Well, I don't know about noble, but that's what I dig doing. And always have, you know. And my work is music and things like that.
Interviewer - Do you resent journalists talking about the past?
John - No. I'm always doing it myself. It's only human. Something funny happened the other day-- I went into Apple and they said, 'Jesus, you look like a Beatle again!' And you know, just for a second I'd forgotten what a Beatle really was. It was because I'd just got back from New York and I hadn't been a Beatle at all. It's just been me and Yoko, and we've been doing all sorts of things.
Interviewer - Tell me about your philosophy of life. Many of your comments have been construed as extreme left wing or communist.
John - They knock me for saying 'Power To The People' and say that no one section should have the power. Rubbish. The people aren't a section. The people means everyone.
I think that everyone should own everything equally and that people should own part of the factories and they should have some say in who is the boss and who does what. Students should be able to select teachers.
It may be like communism but I don't really know what real communism is. There is no real communism state in the world-- you must realize that Russia isn't. It's a facist state. The socialism I talk about is 'British socialism,' not where some daft Russian might do it or the Chinese might do it. That might suit them. Us, we'd rather have a nice socialism here-- a British socialism.
Interviewer - Are you now remotely interested in singles or chart success?
John - Sure. I get all the musical papers and the daily papers. I get my world chart thing and Billboard, and the other one... Cashbox, and I mark off all the Apple records all 'round the world. The Beatles are blasting the world up. We've got records everywhere and two or three in every chart. I get a kick out of it because I'm getting through to all those people, and because I'm doing it on my own or with Yoko.
And I like singles, and not LPs. I like the idea of saying everything in three minutes.
Interviewer - What do you think of your own album, Imagine?
John - It's the best thing I've ever done. This will show them. It's not a personal thing like the last album, but I've learned alot and this is better in every way. It's lighter too-- I was feeling very happy. There's a guy called George Harrison on it and he does some mother of solos. George used to be with The Bubbles or somebody. Then there's a guy called Nicky Hopkins. Then there's Jim Gordon on drums, Alan White on drums, Jim Keltner on drums, and they're fantastic.
Yoko's on whip, and that's very good. Whip and mirror, actually. Then we had John Barnham on a few things and King Curtis is on sax. The Flux Fiddlers are on violins.
Eighty percent was recorded in Britain in seven days. I took them, re-mixed them, and took it to America like they used to do in the old days. It took me nine days to make this album, and ten to make the other before... so I'm getting faster.
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John's 'lost weekend'...
In 1973, Yoko approached May Pang (their personal assistant) with a proposal. Ono, who thought May Pang would be an "ideal companion" for Lennon, asked her to "be with John, help him, and see that he gets whatever he wants.†Yoko then kicked Lennon out of the house. Lennon and Pang moved to Los Angeles - a period which has been dubbed the "lost weekend", though it lasted until the beginning of 1975. During their time together, Pang encouraged Lennon to spend time with his son, Julian Lennon, and she became friends with Cynthia Lennon.
After arriving in Hollywood, Lennon reunited with producer Phil Spector and began work on recording and some of their efforts were eventualy released as part of his 'farewell' LP Rock 'n' Roll. However their work together was ended by interpersonal conflict -- some sources blame this on Spector while others cite Lennon's increasingly out-of-control behaviour in the studio, which led to Lennon being banned from A&M Studios in Hollywood after the studio was repeatedly vandalised.
During this time Lennon often caroused with an assortment of his drinking/drug buddies including singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Micky Dolenz and others, who dubbed themselves the 'Hollywood Vampires'. One of the most oft-repeated incidents was that in which Lennon and Nilsson were ejected from The Troubadour club after repeatedly heckling comedians The Smothers Brothers during their act. During the evening, a drunken Lennon was also reported to have gone into the women's toilet and emerged with a sanitary napkin on his head; when challenged by a waitress, he yelled "Don't you know who I am?" -- to which the waitress famously replied, "Yeah, you're an asshole with a Kotex on your head!".
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Lennon quotes...
"Everything is clearer when you're in love.â€
“I don't believe in Beatles; I just believe in me.â€
“My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.â€
“Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground.â€
“If everybody wished for peace instead of another television set, then there would be peaceâ€
“We're all Christ and we're all Hitler. We are trying to make Christ's message contemporary. We want Christ to win. What would he have done if he had advertisements, TV, records, films and newspapers? The miracle today is communication, so let's use it.â€
“I've made two 'discoveries' in my life: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono. I think that's a pretty damned good choice.â€
“Love means having to say you're sorry every fifteen minutes.â€
“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.â€
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