Summer Backyard

 John, Cynthia, Peter Brown, Pattie, Paul, George, Jane, Mal, and Neil

Meditation Class Photo

 

Fifth Beatle Wives

Let's look into the "5th Beatle" wives. Cynthia had a friendship with all of them... except for George Martin's first wife Sheena as I think she's been out of the picture beforehand.

Suzy (with Neil) with Ringo Starr and Maureen Starkey at the premiere of Yellow Submarine at the London Pavilion on July 17, 1968

Neil Aspinall was born on December 13, 1941 in Prestatyn, North Wales; he attended Liverpool Institute with Paul and George, next door was Liverpool College of Art where John, Cynthia, and Stuart Sutcliffe attended. He lived at Mona Best’s family home where she ran the Casbah Coffee Club where the Beatles played often, Neal drove the Beatles’ around to their gigs in England becoming their road manager. In 1970, The Beatles’ broke up and Neal was the head Managing Director for Apple, the Beatles’ company, until 2007 when he was ill with lung cancer. Neil knew most of the wives (Cynthia, Maureen Starkey, Pattie Boyd, Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Barbara Bach, and Heather Mills; it's unknown if Neil met Nancy Shevell since she was starting to be serious in her relationship with Paul McCartney while Neil was ill and doing treatment at the time) including Jane Asher as Neil remained close to John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Neil met Susan Mary Ornstein in 1964 while the Beatles were filming A Hard Day's Night; Suzy's father George Ornstein was the head of United Artists backing the film. However, Neil was in a relationship with Mona Best and Suzy was married at the time before divorcing John Bramley. They married on August 30, 1968 and they had two children together, including three from previous relationships: Roag (July 21, 1962), Julian (May 21, 1964), Amanda (June  21, 1965), Gayla (19??), and Dhara (August 25, 1974). His daughter, Gayla, helped produced The Beatles’ Anthology documentary in 1995. Neil died in New York City on March 23, 2008. His funeral was attended by Yoko, Olivia, Barbara, and Kathy Best. 

"I just wanted to say, that Neil was a unique man, a loyal man & a man of great strength. He will be missed. I just wanted to publicly send my condolences to His Family & all that knew him, from either working with him, or just knowing him as a friend, from myself & My Mother, Cynthia. We will of course be contacting his family directly too. R.I.P Neil, Hope you guys are having fun up there!" 

Julian, 2008 

Kathy and Pete at Neil Aspinall's funeral in 2008

Pete Best was born on November 24, 1941 in Madras, India to Mona Best. When he was a toddler, the family moved to Liverpool. He met Kathy while performing with the Beatles at Subtree when she was dancing in the audience. They started dating at the first Beatles fan club party at the Cavern in 1962. In August, after Pete was fired from the Beatles, Kathy assured him that it was him she wanted, not a Beatle. They were married a year later, in August of 1963. They had two daughters, Beba and Bonita; Pete struggled as a musician. By 1968, after depression and a suicide attempt, Pete settled in civilian life working in a bakery and quit being a musician until 1988. In December of 1980, Kathy was listening to the radio while Pete was getting ready for work when she heard the news about John Lennon's death and told Pete to listen- he was horrified. Pete and Kathy live in Liverpool, married for over 50 years and are grandparents. Pete occasionally tours with his Pete Best Band. Kathy prefers to be private. I have no idea if Cynthia and Kathy met in 1962 (my gut says yes, but I have no official source to backup my gut), however Cynthia did reconnect with Pete in the 1980s so definitely they have met. 

Yoko, Paul McCartney, John, and Mal’s wife Lil Evans at the premiere of Yellow Submarine at the London Pavilion on July 17, 1968

Malcolm Frederick Evans was born on May 27, 1935 in Liverpool, England; he met the Beatles while working as a bouncer for the Cavern as well as a telecommunications engineer. He met Lily (born on June 12, 1936) at a fun fair in New Brighton and they were married in 1961. Their son Gary was born on October 11, 1961. When the Beatles’ got busier as their popularly grew, Neil requested to Brian that he needed help so Mal was hired as road manager. Their daughter, Julie Suzanne, was born on April 17, 1966; later that year (in August), The Beatles quit touring and they started to focus more on recording in the studio while starting up their own record label and continued to have Mal work for them until 1970 when he was laid off by Allen Klein. Mal, Lil, and their children were frequent guests at Kenwood. In 1973, Mal was separated from his wife and moved to Los Angeles to work as a music producer and manager until January 4, 1976 when he was killed by the police while holding an empty gun after a fight with a girlfriend.

"I fought for reality, for common sense, in a world that was going mad. I saw such terrible things happen. There was Mal Evans, the boys' road manager. He was a marvelous man with a lovely wife and two beautiful children. Then he went on one of the American tours and it all went to his head. He met this woman and he left his wife and moved in with her The last I heard was that the police had raided them, and because Mal had a gun they pumped him full of bullets."

Cynthia, 1976

Cynthia and George Martin at her book John launch party at Fitzroy Square on September 27, 2005 in London

George Henry Martin was born on January 3, 1926 in London, England. George met Jean 'Sheena' Chisholm at Fleet Air Arm while he served in World War II and they married on January 3, 1948. They had two children: Alexis (1955) and Gregory Paul (January 21, 1957), before they divorced on February 25, 1965. George wanted to become a performer (was taught an oboe by Margaret Asher, mother of Jane) but his mentor Oscar Preuss suggested music producing instead. George met Oscar's personal assistant Judy Lockhart-Smith at Parlophone Records. After Oscar's death in 1958, George took over his job and assistant Judy - they started having an affair and Judy encouraged George to be a tough negotiator with Parlophone’s parent EMI. In 1962, George left Sheena for good and made his relationship with Judy public in April of 1962 when George took her to an EMI event in the English beach resort town of Blackpool. Since then, George's relationship with his two older children were estranged with rare tense contact. In August of 1962, George met the Beatles in to record their debut album, Please Please Me, and remained their producer until they broke up in 1970. They became friends, socializing at each other’s homes, and George and Judy went with John and Cynthia skiing in St. Moritz. George and Judy got married on June 24, 1966 and had two children, Lucy (August 9, 1967) and Giles (October 9, 1969). After the Beatles broke up in 1970, George remained in touch with John, Paul, George, and Ringo, occasionally working on their solo albums, participating in The Beatles’ Anthology in 1995 and Cirque Du Soleil’s LOVE with his son, Giles. George died on March 8, 2016; his memorial service was attended by most of the Beatles family, including Julian.

"So Sad to hear the News of George’s Passing… The Fifth Beatle, without question, and likely one of the best & most Iconic Music Producers of all time. You were always such a gentleman and have inspired Millions and will continue to do so for Millennia… It was an Honour to know You. My Heart & Prayers go out to Judy and all other Family members… x."

Julian, 2016

Fantasy Island

July 22 - July 31, 1967

John and Cynthia sightseeing in Athens 

One day, John decided he wanted to buy an island for privacy. I'm not sure what brought the idea, but it was something that was on John's mind. I'm sure it started on drugs, and fans coming to his Weybridge home. But once he shared this idea to Cynthia, she was sold! 

The idea of paradise where Julian could run around, John and Cynthia could be alone, with no strangers coming to the door... it does sound fantastic! I also find the idea a lovely gesture of John wanting to be with Cynthia, alone and away from the craziness. Eventually, the idea of the Lennons having their private island extended to the other three: Paul, George, and Ringo. 

"Mind you, when it came to odd requests, John gave me the biggest shock. We were at Abbey Road after a recording session and John laid down his guitar, turned to me and said, 'Alistair, I want you to buy me an island.' I thought this was just another example of the customary Lennon banter and responded: 'Fine, John. What'll it be? The Isle of Wright? The Isle of Man? A Caribbean island?' He said, 'No, man. I'm absolutely serious. I need to have a place entirely of my own. I want an island with a fresh water supply and green grass'. And he handed me a piece of paper with an island, fresh water, and grass written on it. This was clearly a plan he had devoted several seconds to preparing. 'I want to build a house on it to get some peace and privacy. Somewhere Cyn and I can go to get away.  Oh, and it mustn't be more than two hours from London,' said John...My instant reaction was that this was yet another Lennon wind-up. The sequence of events was a little too coincidental so I rang Cynthia to see if this was an elaborate John joke. She swore John was not messing around this time. He really did want an island and she liked the sound of their own little Emerald Isle... The Beatles wanted to take a look for themselves and have a holiday into the bargain and I sprang into action to organise it. Alex (Madras) went off to Greece to prepare his father's house in Athens for us and to hire a large enough yacht to accommodate Paul and Jane, John, Cynthia and Julian, George and Pattie, Ringo and Maureen*, Big Mal Evans and his wife, Neil Aspinall, and me."

Alistair Taylor

*Maureen didn't go - she was heavily pregnant with Jason.

"The most magical moment came at dawn. As the sky turned pink and sunlight flooded in, Pink Floyd took to the stage, for the first time wearing velvet flares and tight satin shirts. John was so overwhelmed that in a stoned way he had a vision of his future idyllic life. He came over and said, 'I'm taking Cyn away. We're going to live in Paradise.' He was referring to the island he had bought by auction in remote Clew Bay the previous month, but hadn't yet seen.The next day, John, Dunbar, and Magic Alex flew to Dublin and got into a large black limousine that was waiting for them at the airport, and drove to the lonely West Coast. A local boatman took them from the mainland to John's island. He strode out a few hundred yards of damp heather and spiky sea grass he owned, before huddling out of the wind in the lee of a rock, to make a handful of nonsensical sketches of his future home, with an eye that saw only fantastic pyschedelic visions. He wanted a place where he, Cynthia and Julian would find themselves, be happy and where there would be no deeply intense woman like Yoko to possess his mind. A place from which he would emerge occasionally to make a record or attend other psychedelic happenings. It was a dream that the exposed outlook and the cold winds from the sea blew away. The three intrepid adventurers returned to the madness of London and the island went back to sleep."

Tony Bramwell 

John, Cynthia, Julian, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and Alistair Taylor departing London to Athens on July 22, 1967

I don't know the process of buying an Island but I can safely guess that it isn't cheap... but John, and The Beatles, could afford it. Plus, they would have to pay for other amenities, like buildings, renovations, furniture, and care for the island (lawn maintenance, electricity, fresh water supply, food). 

Well, anyway, John and Cynthia decided make a trip to check out potential spots with Paul, George, Ringo Jane, Pattie, and Julian. Plus, Alistair Taylor, Mal Evans, probably his wife Lil, Neil Aspinall, Paula Boyd, and Magic Alex Madras, who was from Greece. I can really picture Alex working his 'magic' on John here - convincing him that Greece is the way to go. I believe this was really the first time John and Julian had a vacation together, and going out of the country. I honestly can't think of any other time John and Julian traveled together beforehand. On July 22, 1967, they set off to Greece and stayed with Alex's family. The following day, the 23rd, there was a storm so their boat trip was delayed. Instead, they went sightseeing and participated in a traditional Greek folk dance in Araxos. They also enjoyed the beach, swimming in the sea. I don't know exactly where they were mainly based- probably Athens, where they were also spotted sightseeing. I bet Alex was their tour guide. They were supposed to see a play Agamemnon hosted by Oxford University Dramatic Society; except Alex alerted news media that The Beatles were in town... why would he do that? Alex should've known that The Beatles didn't want attention while in town. They weren't there to be famous. Sure enough, The Beatles were greeted by the press and weren't able to see the play. This should've been a red flag on trusting Alex. July 24th, the weather was still delaying the boat trip, so, sightseeing they go. The next day, their yacht arrived but the ride was planned to set sail on the 26th; Paul and George decided to stay at "home" while John and Ringo went out to check out musical instruments. I don't know what the others did. On the day of (the 26th), Ringo left before getting on the boat to be with his heavily pregnant wife Maureen with Neil Aspinall accompanying him.  

John, Cynthia, Julian, Pattie Boyd, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and their entourage party enjoying food and tradition Greek dance in Araxos on July 23, 1967

Now, I heard two different versions on how The Beatles got on a yacht to island-shop: 

1) they rented a boat

2) the boat belonged to Alex's family

What is definitely true is that the yacht was named MV Arvi. The boat had 24 berths and a crew of eight, including the captain, a chef and two stewards. On July 26th, everyone got on board and set sail. The island of interest was Agia Triada. During the boat ride, John, Paul, and George took acid (I don't know about Ringo, he could've and he also left early to go home to his very pregnant wife).

"We rented a boat and sailed it up and down the coast from Athens, looking at islands. Somebody had said we should invest some money, so we thought: ‘Well, let’s buy an island. We’ll just go there and drop out.’ It was a great trip. John and I were on acid all the time, sitting on the front of the ship playing ukuleles. Greece was on the left; a big island on the right. The sun was shining and we sang ‘Hare Krishna’ for hours and hours. Eventually we landed on a little beach with a village, but as soon as we stepped off the boat it started pouring with rain. There were storms and lightning, and the only building on the island was a little fisherman’s cottage – so we all piled in: ”Scuse us, squire. You don’t mind if we come and shelter in your cottage, do you?’ The island was covered in big pebbles, but Alex said, ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll have the military come and lift them all off and carry them away.’ But we got back on the boat and sailed away, and never thought about the island again." 

George Harrison

"We went on the boat and sat around and took acid. It was good fun being with everyone, with nippier moments. For me the pace was a bit wearing. I probably could have done with some straight windows occasionally, I’d have enjoyed it a bit more. But nothing came of that, because we went out there and thought, We’ve done it now. That was it for a couple of weeks. Great, wasn’t it? Now we don’t need it. Having been out there, I don’t think we needed to go back. Probably the best way to not buy a Greek island is to go out there for a bit. It’s a good job we didn’t do it, because anyone who tried those ideas realised eventually there would always be arguments, there would always be who has to do the washing-up and whose turn it is to clean out the latrines. I don’t think any of us were thinking of that."

Paul McCartney

Paul and Julian in Araxos, Greece on July 23, 1967

Julian and Paul building sand castle while in Greece 

One thing really noticeable during the trip to Greece: Paul and Julian. With John standing there, watching his band mate, co-songwriter, and best friend Paul McCartney playing with his son. Paul played with Julian, always took the time to fool around, giggling, shrieking, swimming, running around, playing Cowboys & Indians, and building sand castles. John definitely took notice, he often did acknowledged the tight bond between 'Uncle' Paul and Julian. I think it's a mix of complimentary and jealousy from John. 

"Paul had a much more tender way with people, and therefore had a greater understanding of handling children. That's how his association with me was tightened. When I was a kid, Dad wasn't necessarily the playing-around type, whereas Paul was, so there was cowboys and Indians and all that kind of stuff."

Julian, 1998

“Paul was definitely the more gentle sort of playing cowboys and indians all the time while Dad was off doing something else. So, he tended to be around a bit more.”

Julian 

“We were once on a Greek island on holiday, and we were on a boat. It was George and Pattie, John and Cynthia, me and Jane Asher, I think. And Julian was along. I played with Julian most of the trip. We’d run around the deck playing cowboys and Indians— ‘bang, bang, you’re dead’, or whatever— and Julian loved it. And I remember John coming up to me… In fact, it was one of the most poignant moments of our relationship. He took me aside and said, ‘How do you do that?’ And I couldn’t tell him. You either know how to do that stuff or you don’t.”

Paul McCartney, 1995

“We’d gone on this Greek holiday once to buy an island and Julian and I spent a lot time playing around on the boat. I used to play cowboys and Indians with him, and he’d love it: a grown-up who would go, ‘Now you chase me, and I’ll chase you, but after you’ve caught me, not before, okay?’ And you were totally in this mad magic game. I remember John coming up to me once and he took me aside and said, ‘How do you do it?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?' He said, ‘With Julian. How do you play with kids like that?’ I remember feeling a wave of sorrow coming over me, like uhh, I’d love to be able to tell you. Then I tried to give like the potted version, you know, ‘Play, pretend you’re a kid. Play with him.’ But John never got it. Never got the hang of it. John was always a man.”

Paul McCartney, 1999

There's footage from The Beatles Anthology of Paul hanging out with Julian and Jane in the sea, Julian sliding on a railing of the yacht with Jane watching over him, and with John smiling at Julian having their own moment. 

I don't know the deep details of the trip for John and Cynthia. In my mind, John and Cynthia were working on their marriage despite the problems... for major example: John was taking acid during the vacation and island-shopping. That must have pissed off Cynthia. She must have dreaded the idea of an Island getaway and John taking acid, like she would never escape from. Other than that, I never heard of any bad tension between them. Cynthia didn't write about the Greece trip in her books or HELLO! magazine installments or spoke about it in interviews, that I'm aware of. 

 

John, Cynthia, Julian, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, Paula Boyd, and Alex Madras arriving at Heathrow Airport from Athens on July 31, 1967

On July 29th, George, Pattie, and Mal Evans left as George and Pattie were due to travel to Los Angeles on August 1st. On July 31st, the remaining Beatles party departed from Athens to London. The idea of buying an island was pretty much forgotten. Although, I think the idea of having a commune stuck around as Cynthia (and maybe Maureen, Pattie, and Jane) saw Tittenhurst Park while commune house shopping. Unfortunately, as we now know, the commune living never happened. There is something weird that I recently noticed: John and Cynthia were both wearing the same clothes when they left London and when they left Athens. 

Smiles All Around

Maureen Starkey, Cynthia, John, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and Mal Evans in India, 1968 

Photographed by Ringo Starr

 

After the Divorce

"People always want to remind me of the Beatles. They ask if I know what's happening to them, will they really get back together again. I say, 'You read the papers, you know as much as I do.' They can't understand that for me it's all over. It's been eight years since my divorce from John. That's a long time."

Cynthia, 1976

Unfortunately I can't say that after their divorce John and Cynthia remained friends (example: Ringo and Maureen, George and Pattie) or manage to co-exist for the sake of their child (example: Paul and Heather). John was the only divorce Beatle who wanted nothing to do with Cynthia; he was the type that once something is finished, it's finished and forgotten, out of mind, out of sight, move on… Well, same with Paul regarding Heather Mills, but to his credit, they do make it work for their daughter. Paul still treats his ex-wife better than John did. Because John died while Julian was still a teenager, we would never know if John could face Cynthia at Julian's graduation or wedding. I don't know if John knew he would have some kind of a relationship with Cynthia, after all they were forever tied together by their son. John did encounter Cynthia a few times after their divorce in 1968.

Instead of picking up/dropping off Julian at Cynthia's house himself (just as well since John was a horrible driver and with terrible sense of direction), Julian's visits were arranged through Peter Brown and transportation from chauffeur Les Anthony. Meanwhile, Ringo and Paul have had no problems going to their exes's homes to pick up/drop off their children.

Julian, Roberto Bassanini, and Cynthia after their wedding at Kensington Registry Office on July 31, 1970

In August of 1970, Cynthia and her new husband Roberto Bassanini hosted a housewarming party to celebrate their marriage. John and Yoko came, as did Paul, Linda, George, Pattie, Ringo, and Maureen. The Beatles were already broken up and had lawsuits flying in every direction, things were frosty yet John would rather talk to them than to Cynthia, who he mostly ignored in her own home and party. According to Peter Brown, the next day John contacted Cynthia to come over that day and spent many hours alone with Julian in his room. Afterwards, John came down, was in a good mood enough to have a chat with Cynthia over a cup of tea. Things were going well and hopeful until it ended when Yoko called being all suicidal- John quickly went home. Is Yoko psychic? How would she have known that John and Cynthia were chatting cordially? Do I think that if Yoko wasn't around and a different woman instead, would John and Cynthia have a cordial relationship? I like to think so. Or Yoko suck it up and let John and Cynthia communicate. 

Then, in 1971, John and Yoko decided that he would deal with Tony Cox regarding Kyoko and Yoko with Cynthia about Julian. Like that would work out! As it turned out, Cynthia said no to Yoko over the phone and Tony kidnapped Kyoko and lived anonymously in central America with rare minimal contact with Yoko (known twice, 1976 and 1980 by a telegram of condolences after John's death); Kyoko and Yoko reunited in the mid-1990s. 

"There were plenty of bad articles about John, and I worked very hard to keep them well away from Julian. But of course the parents of the other kids told them, and they passed it on to Julian in a garbled form. There was no way of protecting him completely, and he was getting very mixed up. As time passed and he didn't see his father I could see that the image of the human being that he'd known was vanishing in his mind, and being replaced by a voice on a record, a face on the TV screen, and a few muttered stories at school. But I couldn't do that because I knew how John had thought of his father all that time he was being brought up by his aunt. And when he finally met him, of course, years had passed, and his dad had grown older and wasn't at all the way John thought he'd be. I didn't want that to happen to Julian, so I talked to him about the past, and tried to make him remember his father as a person."

Cynthia, 1976

Julian and John posing for photographs with Cynthia and May Pang in the background outside the United Artists Recording Studio on January 10, 1974

Photographed by Peter Borsari 

In January of 1974, Cynthia heard that John and Yoko were separated and managed to get his number. Cynthia called, and to her amazement, John picked up! He was surprised to hear from her. Cynthia reminded John that he has a son that needed his father. At the same time, May Pang was encouraging John to reconnect with Julian. 

"It was a very strange period for John and Yoko and anybody who was working for them. You could feel the tension between them. One day, Yoko walks into my office and says, 'I’ve got to talk to you.' I’m thinking, 'I haven’t had my first cup of coffee yet.' She said, 'John and I are not getting along.' I said, 'I’m so sorry to hear that.' Meanwhile everyone could feel it. She said, 'You know, he’s probably going to start seeing other people.' Then I hear, 'Oh, you don’t have a boyfriend.' I said, 'What? I’m not interested.' She said, 'Oh, I know, I know, but I still think you would be good for him.' I said, 'I’m not interested.' One day, we were going to the studio for John’s recording session, and as we were leaving to get to the studio, in the elevator, all of a sudden, John leaned over and gave me a kiss. He said, 'I’ve been waiting to do this all day.' I said, 'What are you talking about?' What happened was, he’d liked me. When he started to pursue me, I kept backing off. Finally, he was more insistent than I had anticipated. It’s hard to resist someone after so long."

May Pang, 2017

"Also, he hadn’t seen his son Julian in three years, and I was able to get him to talk to Cynthia, his first wife, to have closure he never had. There was a lot of loose ends, and that closure was needed."

May Pang, 2017

“Julian and his father— he hadn’t seen him in three years. And so I worked awfully hard to rekindle that relationship and keep it going. I wanted to make it easy and I also arranged it so that Cynthia was in the picture; he hadn’t seen her either. They never had proper closure. I was just trying to make it all comfortable and easy so that everyone could move on."

May Pang, 2017

"Well, when May was with John for the 18 months, during that time I brought Julian over to stay with John and May, and I went off on holiday in L.A. But I wanted Julian to see his father and May was with him at the time and they got along beautifully. You know, we got on very well together. You know, when two people love the same person, it’s hard to describe, but it’s just that we get on very well together. And there’s no sort of bitterness or anything, and Julian loved May, and May was very kind with Julian, and so that’s how it evolved, came about."

Cynthia, 1982

Julian and John posing for photographs with Cynthia and May Pang in the background outside the United Artists Recording Studio on January 10, 1974

Photographed by Peter Borsari 

It was soon arranged for Julian and Cynthia to travel to New York. John paid for their tickets. John was jittery- it had been 3 years since he last saw Julian. Things have changed: especially Julian's growth from aged 7 to now 11. Cynthia and Julian traveled from England to America by boat, sailing, by coincidence, with Elton John, who was very impressed by Julian's mannerisms. John mostly dreaded seeing Cynthia… That being said, there must have been something as Cynthia attempted to smuggle England's specialty blood sausages that was difficult to find in America but it was confiscated by customs (May eventually found a butcher shop that sold blood sausages). John and May greeted Julian and Cynthia. For John and Julian, there were hugs and kisses. For Cynthia, John managed to be polite yet frosty by giving her a peck on the cheek. Then he turned his attention on Julian, the sole purpose of this trip, while mostly ignoring Cynthia. She was hurt but figured it was more important for John and Julian to reconnect. Cynthia was going to stay with Jenny Boyd but the plan fell through, so John put her up at a hotel. John and May went to Los Angeles, along with Julian and Cynthia. Once again, John ignored her but May and Cynthia bonded. In Los Angeles, Cynthia went to stay with studio session drummer Jim Keltner and his family. There was a day when John was going to take Julian out but he threw a major tantrum because he wanted Cynthia to come along. John wasn't too thrilled with the idea but Julian wasn't going to lighten up so he relented. Betcha John ignored her… yep, he did! Cynthia was literally dragging herself behind with the party, sad that John hadn't given her the time to sit down and talk. Mal Evans was part of the entourage and kept Cynthia company. Mal decided that John's behavior to Cynthia went far enough and arranged a gathering that would give John and Cynthia an opportunity to sit down and talk, relax. Thankfully, it worked and even Yoko's daily numerous phone calls didn't damper the mood. John and Cynthia talked about Julian, her divorce from Roberto, their friends, India (according to May), and… an idea of having another child… according to both John and May while Cynthia later claimed that was rubbish. But it may be very true as May wrote about it in her first book, Loving John, and John wrote about it in some letters to a relative, as well as an open letter to Cynthia when her book was being published. I do want to go deeper on the idea of another child, but it will be in a different post. Let's stick to their encounters after the divorce: All in all, John and Cynthia found satisfied closure to their relationship. The next time John saw Julian, Cynthia wouldn't have to come along- he would be under the care of a flight attendant.

That was the last time John and Cynthia would see each other.

"In 1972 I suddenly realized that Julian hadn't seen his father for three years. I felt something should be done about it. Maybe I should have left matters alone, but Julian had an image of his father on a television screen, and that was all. I thought that was terribly sad and possibly damaging to him. Other children he met could talk about their fathers, but he only knew his father as a Beatle. A few months later I took Julian over there, and I stayed with a friend while Julian had a holiday with his father. Since then their relationship has been beautiful. They talk a lot on the phone, there've been other visits, and he's going again this year. I believe now that John is completely off all drugs, has been off them for years, otherwise I'd never let Julian go. As it is, I'm easy in my mind."

Cynthia, 1976

"Just after we seperated John went to live in America for four years, with Yoko Ono. We didn't hear from him at all during that time, nothing. So I took Juilan to America so that he could get to know his father properly, and that's how we began to talk again. John couldn't handle the confrontation or the guilt. It did both of us good to talk again, and of course it was important for Julian because after that he could go stay with his father and they got close then."

Cynthia, 1996

"There were so many petty jealousies. I went there for Julian's sake but it was a very awkward situation for us all. It was certainly no holiday"

Cynthia, 2000

But the contact didn't end there. 

When Cynthia married John Twist in 1976, John (who reunited with Yoko and had a new child, Sean) sent a congratulatory telegram. Around the same time, Cynthia wrote to John regarding Julian's education fees to have her access the money easier rather than having to wait for John and Yoko's signatures. Luckily, John agreed.

I don't know if John and Cynthia ever spoke on the phone whenever John would call Julian. I believe they did and exchanged awkward pleasantries.

"Soon after the Beatles parted John and Yoko moved to New York and Julian's visits to his father petered out. Contact was difficult. John and Yoko had come to an arrangement whereby any matters relating to her daughter Kyoko from a previous marriage were dealt with through John and anything to do with Julian was handled by Yoko.Julian inherited John's musical ability.  He looks and sounds incredibly like him, too. Maybe it was wrong of me but I refused to talk to Yoko about Julian and in the end Julian managed occasional phone calls to John himself. But it wasn't a satisfactory state of affairs. I wanted Julian to grow up knowing his dad. At the moment the only time he ever saw him was on the television. My relationship with John had failed, I accepted that, but Julian would always be his son and I wanted them to be close. Then in 1973 I saw a chance to bring them together. I read in the papers that John and Yoko had split up and John was now living with a young Chinese girl called May Pang. So I wrote to him and asked if I could bring Julian for a visit. I found out later that John wasn't keen. He was fraught and nervous at this time and terrified of seeing me. He didn't want to be reminded of the past. But he did want to see Julian and May Pang helped tip the scales. She came from a close-knit Chinese family and she couldn't understand why John had not set eyes on his son for four years. So Julian and I went to New York. By now I was back in contact with Patti and Maureen and Patti's sister Jenny had by this time moved to New YOrk. The arrangement was that I would check into a hotel, John would collect Julian and take him off for a fortnight's holiday and I would go and stay with Jenny. Unfortunately though, to my embarrassment, the plans fell apart. Jenny was not at home when I phoned and I couldn't reach Patti back in England. John and May Pang arrived. John was very nervous and twitchy with me and he was quite thin but overall he was looking better than in his last pictures. He'd shaven off the beard and his hair was short which made him look much younger. He was civil but it was very awkward. But Julian was delighted to see his dad. He ran to him and gave him a big hug and once John's wariness had faded he was over the moon to see his son. There was a lot of hugging and kissing. As for me, it was very strange. Just being in the same room with John stirred up so many memories. I still cared for him, I couldn't stop caring for him but the old sparkle was gone. The physical attraction was missing. He'd changed so much he wasn't the same in my eyes anymore. As well as being my son, Julian has been a wonderful friend. 'Look, I'm terribly sorry,' I said after a few minutes, 'but I'm in a mess. I'm supposed to be staying with Jenny, it was organized by Patti, but Jenny doesn't seem to be there. I don't know what I'm going to do.' I felt terrible. I'm sure he thinks I've engineered it, I thought. But John was sympathetic. 'It's okay,' he said, 'We're taking Julian to Los Angeles. You can come with us, I'll put you up in a hotel and I can come and take Julian to Disneyland and everywhere.' So that's what we did but it remained a difficult situation. Like children everywhere Julian wanted his parents to be together and one morning when John arrived to take him to Disneyland he got very distressed. 'I want mummy to come,' he insisted. He wanted to go but he didn't want to leave me. He clung to me and sobbed and it was very awkward. In the end I went too but it was awful. I felt I was muscling in and the atmosphere was polite and strained. Julian fortunately was blissfully unaware of the grown-ups' hang-ups and had a ball. And May Pang was wonderful. She was extremely kind and sensitive and I liked her very much. Just before we left though, John and I did at last talk naturally. One of the roadies we used to know in Britain had moved to LA and invited us to a party at his home. John asked me to come and during the evening he talked to me pleasantly. He asked about Roberto and I explained what went wrong. John seemed genuinely sorry that it hadn't worked out. At last, when no one was watching, the guards came down and he allowed himself to care. That was the closest we came.I never saw him again. My third husband was John Twist.  We got on like a house on fire and John and Yoko even sent us a telegram wishing us happiness. Back in England I moved to the North and in 1976 I married John Twist, a sensible, down-to-earth engineer. He was gentle, polite and quite handsome and we got on like a house on fire. Oddly enough, John and Yoko, now reunited, even sent us a telegram to our wedding wishing us happiness."

Cynthia, 1994

Cynthia, Julian, and John walking in Los Angeles on January 10, 1974.

Photographed by Peter Borsari 

It was the last time John and Cynthia would see each other