Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lennon (née Powell; 10 September 1939 – 1 April 2015) was a British artist and author, and the first wife of John Lennon.
Cynthia Lennon
1 April 2015 (aged 75)
Born in Blackpool and raised in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula, Powell attended the Liverpool College of Art, where Lennon was also a student. Powell and Lennon started a relationship after meeting in a calligraphy class. When Lennon was performing in Hamburg with the Beatles, Powell rented his bedroom at 251 Menlove Avenue in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton from his aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith. After Powell became pregnant with their son Julian, the couple married in August 1962, and they lived at Kenwood in Weybridge from 1964 to 1968, where she kept house and participated with Lennon in a London-based social life. In 1968, Lennon left Powell for Japanese artist Yoko Ono; the couple's divorce was granted in November 1968 on the grounds of adultery.
Powell had three further marriages. She published a book of memoirs, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, and a more intimate biography, John, in 2005. Over the years, Powell held several auctions of memorabilia associated with her life with Lennon. In her later years, Powell lived in Palma Nova, Mallorca, where she died in 2015.
Early years[edit]
Cynthia Powell was born in Blackpool on 10 September 1939,[1] the youngest of three children of General Electric Company employee Charles Powell[2] and his wife Lillian (née Roby), who already had two sons named Charles and Anthony.[3] Her parents were from Liverpool, but her mother (along with other pregnant women) was sent to the safer area of Blackpool after World War II had been declared and lived in a small room in a bed-and-breakfast on the Blackpool seafront.[2] After the birth, with Liverpool becoming a frequent target of German air raids, the Powell family moved to a two-bedroomed semi-detached house in Hoylake,[2] a middle-class area on the Wirral Peninsula which was considered "posh" by those in Liverpool.[4] At age 11, Powell won an art prize in a competition organised by the Liverpool Echo.[5] A year later, she was accepted into Liverpool's Junior Art School,[6] which was also attended by Bill Harry, later the editor of Liverpool's Mersey Beat newspaper.[7]
Marriage to Lennon and birth of Julian[edit]
Powell and Lennon were married on 23 August 1962[42] at the Mount Pleasant register office in Liverpool.[43] Fellow Beatles McCartney and George Harrison were in attendance, as was their manager, Brian Epstein, who was best man; no parents were there.[43][44][45] The wedding was farcical, because as soon as the ceremony began a workman in the backyard of the building opposite started using a pneumatic drill that drowned out anything the registrar, Lennon, or Powell said. When the registrar asked for the groom to step forward, Harrison stepped forward instead.[46] With no photographs or flowers, the wedding party celebrated afterwards, at Epstein's invitation, in Reece's restaurant in Clayton Square, which was the place Lennon's parents, Alfred Lennon and Julia Lennon, had celebrated their marriage in 1938.[46] Lennon was 21 years old, and Powell was 22.[33] The newlyweds had no honeymoon, as Lennon had to play an engagement at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester the same night.[46] They travelled to the Hotel George V in Paris[47] for a belated honeymoon on 16 September[48] but were accompanied by Epstein,[49] even though he had not been invited to join them.[50]
During Powell's pregnancy, Epstein offered her and Lennon the use of his flat at 36 Falkner Street, Liverpool, and later paid for a private hospital room when the pregnancy was coming to term.[51] Although still unknown outside Liverpool, by now the Beatles had a fanatical following among girls within the city.[45] Epstein had one condition which the Lennons had to follow: the marriage and the baby were to be kept a close secret, so as not to upset any of these fans.[52][45] One time when news of the wedding leaked out, the group denied it.[45]
The Lennons' son, Julian,[53] was born at 7:45 a.m. on 8 April 1963, in Sefton General Hospital.[54] Lennon, being on tour at the time, did not see his son until three days later,[53] and when he finally arrived at the hospital, said: "He's bloody marvellous, Cyn! ... Who's gonna be a famous rocker like his Dad then?"[55] Lennon then explained that he would be going on a four-day holiday to Barcelona, with Epstein.[56] Lennon later referred to Julian as a "Saturday night special; the way that most people get here", or said that his son "came out of a whisky bottle,"[57] suggesting this as explanation for his poor parenting of Julian as compared to his second son, Sean Lennon: "Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child."[58]
Kenwood[edit]
Domestic life[edit]
The Beatles' accountant told Epstein the group members should move to houses near his in Esher, so Lennon bought a house called Kenwood in July 1964. It was a mock-Tudor-style house on three acres in Weybridge, where Cliff Richard already lived.[79]
Lennon then spent twice the original £20,000 purchase price (equivalent to £511,900 in 2024)[36] on renovations for Kenwood,[80] reducing its 22 rooms to 17.[81] The new kitchen was so modern and complicated, someone had to be sent to explain how everything worked,[82] and during the extensive renovations the couple had to live in the attic bedroom for nine months.[83] Although Cynthia enjoyed entertaining in the larger rooms, Lennon could usually be found in a small sunroom at the back of the house overlooking the swimming pool, which was similar to his aunt's conservatory in Liverpool.[84] They had a cat called "Mimi", named after Lennon's aunt.[85] Cynthia took care of Julian herself, without a nanny, although babysitters were frequently employed. She also did the cooking herself, but employed a housekeeper, gardener, and chauffeur, who lived off the premises.[86]
When she passed her driving test, Lennon serially bought her a white Mini, a gold Porsche, a red Ferrari, and a green Volkswagen Beetle, usually as surprises without consulting her first.[87] Cynthia enjoyed the closeness of Pattie Boyd and Maureen Starkey (Ringo Starr's wife), as both lived nearby, often going on holiday together or shopping.[88] She was often photographed at Beatles' movie premieres and special occasions, and sometimes with Lennon and Julian at home, which meant she had the role of a Beatle wife, as well as being a mother. The Lennons often went to a nightclub in central London until nearly dawn, after which she took Julian to school.[89] Kenwood became the place to visit for the other Beatles, various American musicians, and total strangers who Lennon had met the previous night in London nightclubs.[88]
In 1965, she opened the front door of Kenwood to see a man who "looked like a tramp", but with her husband's features.[90] He explained that he was Alfred Lennon, the father whom Lennon had supposedly not seen for years.[91] Lennon was annoyed when he came home, telling her for the first time that his father had visited the NEMS office, Epstein's business, a few weeks before.[91] Three years after the meeting in the NEMS office, Alfred Lennon (who was then 56 years old) turned up at Kenwood again with his fiancée, 19-year-old student Pauline Jones.[92] He asked if the Lennons could give Pauline a job, so she was hired to help with Julian and the piles of Beatles' fan mail. Lennon's father and his fiancée then spent a few months living in the attic bedroom.[92] During an interview at Kenwood with Evening Standard reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon said, "Here I am in my Hansel and Gretel house, famous and loaded, and I can't go anywhere. There's something else I'm going to do, only I don't know what it is, but I do know this isn't it for me."[93]
Drugs[edit]
Cynthia knew her husband took drugs like Preludin, and regularly smoked cannabis, but thought of them as not being very dangerous.[83] On 27 March 1965,[94] at a dinner party given by a dentist, John Riley,[95] the Lennons, Harrison, and Boyd were given LSD without their knowledge.[96] Although told not to leave the house, Harrison drove them to various nightclubs, with Riley following them by taxi.[94][97] At the Ad Lib club, they thought the lift up to the club was on fire and started screaming,[98] before finally crawling out of the lift for which Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Starr were waiting. Harrison later drove them back home in Boyd's Mini Cooper at no more than 10 mph, as he was also feeling the effects of the drug. They stayed up all night at Kenwood, experiencing the full effects of their first LSD trip.[99]
Lennon then started taking LSD on a regular basis in addition to his daily use of cannabis.[100] After much encouragement from him, Cynthia agreed to try LSD one more time, but the adverse effects were the same. Although she said at the time she would never take the drug again, she relented and took it for the last time a few weeks later, on the way to a party at Epstein's country house in Warbleton, East Sussex.[101] Although she hated the psychological effects of the drug, from this point she could see the change taking place in her husband: "It was like living with someone who had just discovered religion ... Tensions, bigotry, and bad temper were replaced by understanding and love."[102] In 1970, Lennon confessed that he had probably taken LSD one thousand times since 1965, saying: "I used to just eat it all the time."[103] In the decades ahead, Cynthia would always maintain that John's drug use was the beginning of the end for the couple.[104][101]
By 1967, Lennon's aggressive edges from his childhood had disappeared, and he spent considerable amounts of time sitting in his sunroom or garden and daydreaming for hours on end.[105] He became somewhat uncommunicative towards most people, including Cynthia (but not with the other Beatles, who had an almost unspoken ability to understand one another).[105] Cynthia once complained, saying: "What I'd like is a holiday of our own ... John, Julian and me." Lennon replied with, "OK, I know, we'll all retire to a little cottage on a cliff in Cornwall, all right?" Then adding, "No, I've got these bloody songs to write. I have to work, to justify living."[106] She understood his temperament, but felt frustrated at never having developed her own career by using her art college background.[106]
Subsequent life[edit]
On 31 July 1970, Cynthia married Roberto Bassanini, whom she had started dating after parting with Lennon;[145] the couple divorced in 1973.[146] Cynthia then opened a restaurant in Ruthin, Wales, called Oliver's Bistro, which also had a B&B above the premises. She enrolled her son into the Ruthin School and he later joined the local Combined Cadet Force.[147] During Lennon's separation from Ono in 1973–74, his partner at the time, May Pang, tried to get Lennon to spend more time with his son, forming a friendship with Cynthia in the process, which continued even after John Lennon and Yoko Ono were reconciled.[148] A meeting during this period was the last time Cynthia saw John.[104] Julian had been allowed to visit his father twice a year by himself, but John Lennon complained that during his time with Pang his ex-wife also wanted to be present, saying, "She [Cynthia] thought she could walk back in 'cos I wasn't with Yoko!" After his reconciliation with Ono, Lennon complained again that his son was not being allowed to visit him.[149]
On 1 May 1976, Cynthia married John Twist, a television engineer from Lancashire.[150] She published a memoir during their time together, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, about her life before and with Lennon and containing her own illustrations and poetry.[151][152] Lennon tried to stop the publication of the book after an excerpt was published in a newspaper.[153] Cynthia's memoir gained renewed interest and went to a third printing of 200,000 copies in the weeks after Lennon's death.[154] She and Twist separated in 1981 and were divorced in 1982.[155] Cynthia sold the Bistro and changed her name back to Lennon by deed poll, later commenting about why it was financially necessary, "Do you imagine I would have been awarded a three-year contract to design bedding and textiles [for Vantona Vyella in 1983] with the name Powell? Neither did they. When it is necessary to earn a living, it is necessary to bite the bullet and take the flack."[156][5]
Cynthia began a relationship with Liverpudlian chauffeur Jim Christie in 1981, who became her partner for 17 years as well as her business manager, living in Penrith, Cumbria.[157][158] At the time, Cynthia said, "Jim has never felt he's living in John Lennon's shadow. He's four years younger than me and wasn't really part of that whole Beatles' scene."[159] They later lived on the Isle of Man and then in Normandy for some years but separated in 1998.[104][158]
Cynthia had kept mementos of Lennon for years but began auctioning them off after his death.[160] This included a personally drawn Christmas card from Lennon to her, which fetched £8,800 at Christie's in August 1981.[161] With Cynthia's finances in an unsteady state – she would say in 1999 that "Apart from John, the men I have fallen in love with have never been good at earning a living" – more of her memorabilia of Lennon went up for auction in 1991, including antiques from Kenwood.[158][157] Cynthia said at the time, "I've enjoyed these things for 30 years. But it's time for a change."[157] Another set of items, including some of Lennon's drug paraphernalia, brought over $60,000 for her in 1995.[162] Cynthia later said, "I think in life we collect so much baggage, when you have a clear-out, you send it to a car-boot sale, etc. My baggage was in demand and sold at Christie's. When you have to pay the bills, you're not proud and you can't take it with you."[5]
Over the years, Cynthia entered some failed business ventures, including in 1988 a perfume named Woman[163][164] (after the 1980 John Lennon song) and, in April 1989, a restaurant named Lennon's—at 13/14 Upper St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden—which had menu items such as Rubber Sole (a play on the already-punning 1965 Beatles album),[157][158] as well as Sgt. Pepper's Steak and Penny Lane Pâté.[165] It had a short life as a business venture, as it was considered to be far too expensive.[166] She would later blame some of these efforts on the men in her life encouraging her.[158]
The Beatles' Hamburg days were the subject of the 1994 film Backbeat, with Jennifer Ehle portraying Cynthia Powell.[167] The film characterises Lennon and Cynthia's relationship as one that will eventually be doomed by their wanting different things from life but with Lennon not wanting to hurt her.[168] Cynthia later complained that the film made her out "as a clingy, dim, little girlfriend in a headscarf."[169] In another film covering the early years of the pre-fame Beatles, the 1979 Birth of the Beatles, Cynthia was portrayed by Wendy Morgan.[170] Cynthia was portrayed in 2000 television film In His Life: The John Lennon Story by Gillian Kearney; the negative aspects of John's treatment of her were not overlooked.[171] Cynthia was subsequently portrayed in the troubled, Ono-centric 2005 American musical Lennon, with her character – played by Julia Murney – gaining a little more prominence during one of the show's rewrites.[172][173] Cynthia's life had a more central role in the 2010 BBC Four film Lennon Naked, with Claudie Blakley playing the part.[174] Cynthia's character was absent from the 2009 British film Nowhere Boy, which purported to cover the story of Lennon from 1955 to 1960 but focused on his relationships with his aunt and mother.[175]
In 1995, Cynthia made her recording début with a rendition of "Those Were the Days" which, produced by McCartney, had been a number one hit for Mary Hopkin in 1968.[5] It failed to chart. Whilst she was living in Normandy, an exhibition of her drawings and paintings were displayed at Portobello Road's KDK Gallery in 1999.[158] By the 1990s, Cynthia was appearing at some Beatles conventions but appeared ambivalent about doing so.[5][157] At times, Cynthia maintained that she was moving on with her life and putting her Beatles past behind her and at other times seemed to embrace continued interest in that past as inevitable.[5][104][157][158] The Daily Telegraph said in a 1999 profile, "In essence, she is a suburban woman who – almost in spite of herself – got caught up with one of the most extraordinary men of modern times. More than 30 years since her marriage to John Lennon ended, she is as entangled as ever."[158]