October 9, 2010

John Lennon's birth and early childhood



70 years ago, John Lennon was born. Being the son of Julia and Alfred Lennon, he was named after his paternal grandfather, John "Jack" Lennon, and Winston Churchill (as his complete name was John Winston Lennon).

According to some biographers, a German air raid was taking place, and Julia's sister, Mary "Mimi" Smith, used the light cast by the explosions to see her way as she ran through the blacked-out back roads to reach the hospital. Mimi said later, "I knew the moment I saw John in that hospital that I was the one to be his mother, not Julia. Does that sound awful? It isn't, really, because Julia accepted it as something perfectly natural. She used to say, 'You're his real mother. All I did was give birth.'"

Lennon's father, a merchant seaman during World War II, was often away from home and sent regular pay cheques. The cheques stopped when Alfred Lennon went absent without leave in 1943. When he eventually came home in 1944, he offered to look after the family, but his wife (who was pregnant with another man's child) rejected the idea. Under considerable pressure, she handed the care of Lennon over to her sister, Mimi.

In July 1946, Lennon's father visited Mimi and took his son to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Lennon's mother followed them, and, after a heated argument, his father forced the five-year-old to choose between his parents. Lennon chose his father—twice. As his mother walked away, Lennon began to cry and followed her. Lennon then lost contact with his father for 20 years.

"Nowhere boy" is relevant for revealing this period of Lennon's life. You can read more here.

Source: Wikipedia.org

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