Sunset

From Julian's Instagram

Julian and Sean in Malibu after a day of driving through mountains to the sea on November 21, 2021 to spend time before Sean leaves California. 

Get Back

From Stella McCartney Instagram

From Julian's Instagram

From Julian's Instagram

Julian attended Stella McCartney's Get Back Capsule Fashion Collection and documentary release of Peter Jackson's Get Back at The Jim Henson Company on November 18, 2021 in Los Angeles with host Stella, Sean, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and Olivia Harrison.

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold!

Cynthia at Christie's Auction House in 1991

I believe the auction bug originally came from Lillian Powell, Cynthia's mother. From my research, Lillian loved to shop and change everything around. I think she couldn't settle on anything and wanted to change everything after Lillian became bored. Auctions were her favorite but money was pretty tight and her husband tried to keep her shopping addiction down ... but ... it simply never worked! It reminds me of an I Love Lucy episode called Lucy Wants New Furniture in the second season. 

"She wasn't that wonderful at housework but she had an eye for beautiful things and she couldn't resist auctions. Every Monday there would be a sale in West Kirby and Dad, who was anxiously counting the pennies, would say: 'Please, love, don't go to the salesroom this week. Please. We've got all these bills to pay.' My mum Lillian was artistic and musical and she and Dad used to give little concert parties. And she'd promise: 'No, Charles. I won't go.' But come Monday she always weakened. She'd wait for dad to disappear round the corner to work and then she'd be off to the salesroom. We'd come home to find a different three-piece suite in the front room, different curtains and a different carpet in the bedroom. Dad would stand there, looking at the re-arranged room in disbelief. 'Oh, Lil - you've done it again!' he'd groan. 'You've done it again.' Being such a regular customer Mum got quite friendly with the men who delivered the furniture and she often invited them in for a cup of tea. One day she bought a great many pictures and prints. 'Please bring them round before Charles gets home,' she begged, realising she might have overdone it a bit this time. But before they arrived, she was unexpectedly called away and the delivery men turned up to find no one home. So they lined up all the pictures along the wall outside the house and chalked on the pavement in front of them: 'All her own work.' Dad came home to find the outdoor gallery in all its extensive splendour and Mum's wings were clipped for quite a while. Despite all this, Dad never got angry with Mum. He didn't have an angry bone in his body."

Cynthia, 1994

A few years later, in August of 1962, Lillian came to visit her children, Tony and Cynthia, in Liverpool from Canada. Although Cynthia was now pregnant, scheduled to marry John, and to move into Brian Epstein's apartment, Lillian did not yet know this and Cynthia couldn't yet tell her (afraid). After checking out where Cynthia was living, Lillian took it upon herself to decorate her daughter's apartment and went in shopping frenzy! 

"I knew I'd have to tell her but I just couldn't find the courage. We spent a few days looking round the shops, having meals together and of course she came to visit my little bedsit. I'd swapped rooms since she left and was now installed in a slightly larger bedsit along the corridor. It was light and airy but Mum shook her head over the room's meagre furnishings. 'Oh dear, this is terrible,' she said glancing critically at the tatty curtains and crumbling rug. 'I'll go back to the salesrooms and get you a decent carpet and some good pots and pans.' Oh, crikey. I thought. Of course this would have been a good moment to tell her about Brian and the flat and the baby but a happy glint had come into Mum's eye at the prospect of another forage round the salesrooms and I couldn't find the words to spoil her fun. A couple of days later she was back in triumph, accompanied by a van containing a beautiful Indian carpet in red with only a few holes in it, some matching lampshades, pots and pans and various oddments of china. She set to work at once, rearranging everything, totally content. Under her deft fingers the little room was soon transformed and she sat back to look at it, very pleased with her handiwork."

Cynthia, 1994

Then, Cynthia told her mother that she was pregnant, going to marry John, and move into Brian's apartment. I think Brian's apartment was already furnished, so I have no idea what Cynthia did with Lillian's shopping... maybe kept the pots and pans, China cutlery, and a few pieces of furniture. 

Fast forward many years later... I'm not sure exactly when, but (not surprisingly) Cynthia, would meet a few trickery drifters that she thought was a friend but turned out not to be. Things were stolen, including her wedding certificate with John. Cynthia went to court to bring it back to her possession.

"No, what happened was that my wedding certificate to John had come up in a sale, and was sold for £5,000. To my knowledge, the certificate was never given away, and I don't know how it came up for sale or who had it, because they aren't allowed to disclose these matters. I was incensed by the fact that somebody was selling my particular wedding certificate, without my knowledge or permission. What I'm doing now is selling what is mine. I'm not against selling things at auctions. My mother was the greatest auction-goer, and so was I when I was young."

Cynthia 1991 

"Yes, Julian has the one thing he really wanted - a Red Indian head-dress! I went to court to get it back after someone had stolen it years ago, and it turned up in a memorabilia sale. I went through the horrors of going to magistrates court to get it back - so Julian wants to keep that for his children."

Cynthia 1991

Cynthia at Christie's Auction House in 1991

In August of 1991, needing money to pay the bills and survive, Cynthia decided to sell her belongings through Christie's Auction House. Cynthia held a second auction in September of 1996. Not surprising, there were criticisms of betraying John's memory (like John would've cared; besides, I am sure Yoko would've stopped some pieces, but as far as I know, Yoko kept herself out) or wanting publicity for herself, but Cynthia defended herself on why she decided to let things go. Of course, there were some items Cynthia later regretted to sell ... However, I am sure her bills got paid.

"I've been carrying these things around for 25 years, from one house to the next, and I'd got to the stage this year that it was all getting too much. My son, Julian, had been to visit, and we'd been having long discussions about John and about life. Julian is 28 now, and we have come to a wonderful sort of understanding about our fate and the extraordinary Lennon legacy left to us by John. So we discussed it then, and I told him how fed up I was with all the things - the artefacts and the books and things. The drawings and cartoons spent their time in a safe or in a bank. They were insured to death, which is crazy, and I was saying to him that I just wanted to get rid of the dead wood. I know it sounds awful. Just the the excess baggage. I also wanted to rid myself of the ghost of the legacy. I feel as though I've put in 25 years of unpaid work on the business in a very strange way, and I just felt that it's time that I came out of the shadows of that legend and came into the sunshine. Now I'm ready to start afresh. I think you can only take so much and it can only taint your life or influence you for so many years without you having had enough - as much as I love the music, and as much as I love the priceless memories of that era."

Cynthia, 1991

"Hopefully it will give me some security. Obviously, as you get older you need more security for whatever may happen. If this gives me the security to be able to do my own thing, which will be to paint and write and do all the things I started out doing years before I was gobbled up by this legend, then it will make me very, very happy."

Cynthia, 1991

"All my memories are intact, but the past is over now. It's time for a change." 

Cynthia, 1991

"I think in life we collect so much baggage, when you have a clearout, 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." 

Cynthia, 1999

"I’ve had to sell things but there’s no good looking back and regretting it  I needed to pay the bills. When most people need some money they have a carboot sale… well, I had a very expensive car boot sale.” 

Cynthia 2005

Like grandmother, like mother, and like son. I suppose after being raised by two women who had a thing for auction houses, it's no wonder that Julian caught the auction bug. After John died in 1980, Julian was barely given anything that belong to his father. Why? I don't know... a similar thing happened to Robin Williams with his children and widow: his children had to sue the widow to get access to what Robin had left them and then some. Except, I don't think Julian sued, but he did get rather pissed off to see his father's belongings go up in auction. Hadn't it ever occurred to Yoko that maybe Julian wanted it? Apparently, not. But, whatever the circumstances, and with Julian making his own money (and whatever inheritance he had to fight for from Yoko), he decided to try to buy them back for his family, and have something for his children (that he doesn't have... but never say never!). Another example I can think of on who can relate to Julian's plight would be Mariska Hargitay; her mother was the late Jayne Mansfield who died in 1967 when she was three years old. After Jayne's death, her house got looted and, wouldn't you know it, several of her belongings found it's way to auction houses. There's also people telling her (I'm sure Julian has gotten his fair share) that if she wants Jayne's things back, Mariska would have to pay a price... How nice, right [scarscism]? This person who more than likely stole it from Jayne's home and years later, when her daughter becomes famous, offer to return it for a price.

"A lot of people like to play games at auction. Some people, if they know it's me, will back down so that I've got a chance. There are a lot of very, very wealthy people, so sometimes there is not a chance in hell that I will get the stuff I am going for. But there are some people that will step in the way just to get one over. What can I say? People can be strange."

Julian 2010

"I don't look at it that way. I feel fortunate that I can afford to get some of these items back. I'd rather try to live life to the full. That's all I'm concerned about now."

Julian 2010 

Cynthia at The Beatles Story museum to launch White Feather: The Spirit of Lennon in 2009

In June of 2009, Julian decided to show his Beatles memorabilia collection to the public called White Feather: The Spirit of Lennon held at The Beatles Story in Liverpool; May Pang and Julia Baird attended. A year later, I think because there were fans unable to go to Liverpool to see the exhibition (like me), Julian put together a book, Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection, released in 2011. 

"John Lennon is an idol to millions of people who grew up loving his music and ideals, but to me he is the father I loved and lost. I hope this exhibition lets people see another aspect of his life and our time together as a family. This collection represents something of great importance to us as it is part of our history.”

Julian, 2009

"Rather than have everything locked up in storage in a safe packed away for no one to see I felt it would be better to be outside, especially in this city, the city of Liverpool for the fans to see."

Julian, 2009

“Slowly but surely I have been gathering things. Nothing was passed down to me after Dad passed. The only way I could actually regain any of my dad’s belongings, or the Beatles work, was to go out and buy them myself. I felt that not only for my sake but also if I have a family of my own, whether it’s in their personal possession or at an exhibition like this, they have a chance to see their family history”.

Julian, 2009

"We've been working on it for about two years. When John died, Julian received nothing in terms of any his treasures. They all went on sale - they were at Christie's and Sotheby's. Julian has spent a lot - a lot - of money buying back things, beautiful things, that were important to John in our lives, for the family. They've been stuck in a bank vault for too long and we thought, this is cruel, we really should put them on show. There are postcards, there are photographs, it's a very family orientated exhibition. It's explaining to those who are interested that there was life before John went to America."

Cynthia, 2009

In 2021, Julian is keeping the auction hereditary alive as he's starting to put his mother's belongings up for auction to raise money for his White Feather Foundation's Cynthia Lennon Scholarship for Girls, usually around Mother's Day (it's in March for United Kingdom) and September for Cynthia's birthday. If you want to own something that belonged to Cynthia, keep an eye out for any announcements! I would, but at this time I don't have deep pockets... But, to be honest, the items that went into auction (so far at this time of writing) are things that aren't my taste, yet, never say never! As for those who are huffing and puffing over Julian selling his mother's things, well, they're his things and what would Julian do with the jewelry and clothes? Last I checked, Julian wouldn't wear them, he doesn't have a wife or long time girlfriend, and why have them sitting in storage collecting dust? Besides, I'm sure Cynthia would've approved, based on her own auction past. She may have known, or it even could've been her idea. After all, Julian knew his mother best!