The Powell Brothers

Charlie and Tony with their father Charles

From Julian Lennon's Instagram

Charles Ronald F. Powell was born in/around 1928. Anthony Powell was born in/around 1931; I do think he had middle names like big brother Charlie but I don't know. I don't know Charlie's middle name F stands for… I know I rant this before about Cynthia's middle name Lillian (short recap: she doesn't have a middle name! There's NO proof!) but it wasn't unusual for a girl not to have a middle name as it was said the maiden name becomes middle after getting married. At least, that's what's been explained to me by my grandmother who didn't have a middle name and didn't give her daughters one either yet my mom gave me a middle name because she always wanted one and to differentiate me from my Aunt who I'm named after. Okay, less about me! Let's get back to the subject, Charlie was over ten years older than Cynthia while Tony was about 8 years older so by the time Cynthia was five, Charlie was out of the house at the age of 16. Despite their age difference, they did seem to be very close. Both Charlie and Tony were born in Liverpool until World War II, they were evacuated to North Wales for safety, armed with stock and soda pops to live with a family. Meanwhile, Lillian went to a bed & breakfast hotel in Hoylake, Blackpool with other pregnant mothers where she gave birth to Cynthia. The family was soon reunited and settled in Hoylake; when bombers flew overhead, Lillian would swoop the children into a cupboard under the stairs. It was Cynthia's job to clean their shoes. Charlie had a few girlfriends that he would bring to the house, including the fashion designer I referred in a previous post about Cynthia as an artist. Lillian, not exactly I would call the best housekeeper, would slick and span the house… I suppose Cynthia knew someone would be coming when her mother had a dustrag in one hand and a vacuum in the other. There was another girlfriend named Katie, who accompanied Charlie to Tony's wedding in 1960 and met Cynthia's boyfriend John Lennon. One day while both John and Charlie were at the Powell family home, Charlie noticed John didn't have any money so he gave him a pile of old sweaters. Since then, John had a soft spot for Charlie. Charlie went to work for GEC like their father Charles, selling electric appliances to shops in Birmingham and London while Charles did Liverpool. Charlie could play the piano. Eventually he moved to Libya and must have had a connection with lawyers as when Lillian contacted him when Cynthia and John decided to divorce in 1968, Charlie came to London to hook Cynthia up with a lawyer. 

Wedding invitation for Charlie and Penny in February of 1967

From Dorothy Jarlett's collection

Well, a year before the drama of John and Cynthia's divorce, Charles got married to Penelope Anne Jackson on February 25, 1967 at St. Bartholomew's Church in Corsham (close to Bristol and Bath), England and the reception at The Rudloe Park Hotel. It's an almost 2 hour drive from Weybridge, Surrey. I don't know for sure if John attended but most chronology books have The Beatles doing EMI recording sessions for Sgt. Pepper's so it's very possible that John did go. After 1968, I don't know what happened to Charlie. I just know he remained married to Penny as she's mentioned in Cynthia's acknowledgements in her John book. I don't know if they had children. I don't even know if Charlie is still alive; if he is, he would be 92 at this time of writing.

Tony and Marjorie with their families for their wedding in April of 1960 with bridesmaid Cynthia and her boyfriend John Lennon behind her.

From Cynthia Lennon's collection

While Cynthia had little memories of Charlie being home while growing up, she was much closer to Tony. When he was 18, Tony was enlisted to the National Service (Army). After he returned home, Tony had a girlfriend and joined the police to please her but was unhappy with the occupation. After they broke up, Tony was more than happy to resign. I don't know what Tony settled to do but he definitely worked and lived in Liverpool. He married Marjorie Joyce in April of 1960 with Cynthia as a bridesmaid and accompanied by John, who met her brothers and the rest of her family that day. Tony and John got along well, they shared the same sense of dry humor. In April of 1961, Lillian moved to Canada to help take care of her niece's baby; the next year in August of 1962, she came back to Liverpool for a visit and stayed with Tony. By that time, Cynthia already found out she was pregnant and couldn't find the words to tell her mother until the last day of her trip on August 21, 1962. I suppose that's when Tony found out he was going to be an Uncle. The next day, the 22nd of August, Lillian returned to Canada. Cynthia, Tony, and Marjorie sent her off with Cynthia crying so bad that her brother and sister-in-law had to support her to leave. Tony and Marjorie attended Cynthia's wedding to John the following day on August 23, 1962 but had to depart right after to go to work. During her pregnancy and living in Brian Epstein's apartment, Cynthia did stay with Tony, I guess for the weekend, while John was home… which is rather surprising as she would have relished to be with him as his home days were starting to get far and few apart… but who knows? Not long after, Cynthia nearly suffered a miscarriage and was instructed to stay in bed for three days; Tony came by to check in while John was on tour. I don't know if Tony visited Cynthia at Mimi's house- he could have. And, that's all I know about Tony, not much after 1962. I don't know if Marjorie and Tony had children. I do know that Tony died and Cynthia attended his funeral- I don't know when it happened. 

Marjorie and Cynthia at a party in 1956

From Cynthia Lennon's collection

Secret Newlyweds

“Brian had an obsession about not letting the marriage become public. At a very early stage of my involvement, John mentioned that he was married and Brian went berserk about it to me. He said, 'I don't know why he's told you that. Yes, of course it's true, but he's told awfully few people and I want you to make quite sure you don't tell anybody else.”

Tony Barrow

The Beatles performing at the Cavern Club in Liverpool on August 22, 1962. In less than 24 hours, John would become a married man.

At first, John went along with Brian's plan to keep his marriage and pending fatherhood a secret. But at some point John became frustrated and wanted his marriage known. He figured that his marriage was going to come out anyway and believed it wouldn't make no difference to the Beatles’ growing popularity. Cynthia knew nothing about John's battle with Brian over their marriage.

“He kept so many things from me, bad and good. I only heard much later that Brian wanted me kept quiet.”

Cynthia, 1985

While John was away, Cynthia busied herself washing and drying his clothes,went to check-ups for the baby, and mind their home. Cynthia became John's much-needed stability rock.

“Cynthia was beautiful, physically and on the inside. Although he was apt to find love on the road, she was totally dedicated to his success, and I might add, extremely influential. He was insecure and Cynthia was there to pump him up to buttress, sort of, his weak side. She was a wonderful mother who loved John deeply.”

Tony Bramwell

“After rehearsals or a gig, we would go to a bar in the West End. We would drink and talk. It would be late at night, but Cynthia was always waiting for him, always there to embrace him. She was sweetly sensitive, and I do believe most people have no idea what a central figure she was in terms of keeping him somewhat stable during that hard phase when no one knew if the boys were a passing fad or the real thing. I mean, John was the leader, but he was also scared all the time. People forget what a rock she was for him.”

Tony Barrow

Paul, John, Cavern Club owner Ray McFall, and Cynthia at the Cavern Club in October of 1962

Photographed by Mike McCartney

“As far as Brian was concerned any news item that mentioned their marriage and/or their offspring would be damaging to the image of the Beatles. I thought this was preposterous stance to take. His fear was that young females would fall out of love with John if they found out that he was a married man. My view was that in the swinging '60's an increasing number of teenage fans would find John all the more interesting when they knew he had a wife. Here was an additional challenge of the forbidden fruit variety!”

Tony Barrow

“She was so scared. She wanted to marry John- very definitely- it just wasn't the right time. She realized they weren't ready for it, but there was no other solution.”

Dot Rhone

Cynthia did glamorize her early months of marriage to John. I am sure and positivity think that she was probably more focused on the good. Whenever John returned home, he would bring some things for their new home; his first present for his wife was a beaten copper coffee table for their living room. Although it wasn't exactly in Cynthia's taste, she was touched by the thought and was swept away by his enthusiasm. However, according to Dot, there were problems. Maybe it was pressure from Brian; losing more and more free time and becoming more busier, tours, recording and writing songs, newfound fame and seeing his name in the local papers, having women throwing themselves at him, and then John would come home after being looked at as an idol to a pregnant wife holding the trash bag for him to take out.

“There were a lot of fights. He would drink an awful lot- just get drunk and mean. And then he’d say such awful things to Cyn. He was so moody. One moment he could be so funny and wonderful, and the next so damn cruel.”

Dot Rhone

A scared three months pregnant Cynthia and a protective John trying to barricade themselves from two drunken men looking for a woman.

Artwork by Cynthia

"This is in Brian Epstein's flat in Liverpool. John and had just got married- I was three months pregnant. John was panicking, he wasn't brave. I nearly had a miscarriage afterwards."

Cynthia, 1999

About three months into her pregnancy, Cynthia woke up to discover blood. With her brother Tony's help, she rushed to the Doctor. Cynthia was told to stay in bed for three days to avoid a miscarriage. Too scared to go across the apartment for the bathroom, she set a kettle for tea and a bucket for bathroom needs besides the bed (I hope she didn't poop!). John would call in but Cynthia didn't tell him until he came home well after her three bedridden days were gone. He told her she should've told him but she felt that John had enough on his shoulders. The threatened miscarriage happened after a scare John and Cynthia had in their apartment: Two drunken men came knocking, looking for a woman named Carol. John tried sending them off but the men didn't believe him and started violently pounded on the door. It wasn't until Cynthia yelled that her name wasn't Carol and that she was 3 months pregnant. The men left and the newlyweds had trouble going to sleep that night and we're quite shaken. John and Cynthia’s first apartment wasn't in the best side of town during the time period. Sadly, in 2017, a man murdered his wife and their two children in the same apartment.
When John came back home for a few days, Cynthia suggested that they should visit Mimi. Although Cynthia wasn't exactly Mimi's number 1 fan, she didn't like animosity in families and knew that both Aunt and nephew missed each other. John was incredibly hurt by Mimi's attitude towards his marriage and fatherhood; the three months have been the longest Mimi and John haven't seen or spoken to one another since his wedding. John was hesitant but agreed. Both traveled by bus, probably the last time John and Cynthia rode on the bus together as John was becoming more and more recognizable. Both were more prepared for having the door slammed in their faces but to their surprise, Mimi greeted them with an open door, hugs, and kisses and instantly started on a home cooked meal. Cynthia was now visibly pregnant and Mimi asked how she was doing. They filled her in on the almost miscarriage and how Cynthia was alone most of the time. During a fresh air break in the garden, Mimi offered John and Cynthia to move in with her. Cynthia was not too thrilled with the idea but couldn't argue against it either because she wouldn't be alone and scared.

Do You Want to Know a Secret? 1963 (recorded in 1962)
You'll never know how much I really love you
You'll never know how much I really care
Listen do you want to know a secret
Do you promise not to tell woh woh woh closer

Let me whisper in your ear
Say the words you long to hear
I'm in love with you
I've known the secret for a week or two
Nobody knows just we two
Listen do you want to know a secret
Do you promise not to tell woh woh woh closer
Let me whisper in your ear
Say the words you long to hear
I'm in love with you

“I was in the first apartment I’d ever had that wasn't shared with 14 other students- gals and guys at art school. I’d just married Cyn, and Brian Epstein gave us his secret little apartment that he kept in Liverpool for his sexual liaisons separate from his home life. And he let Cyn and I have that apartment.”

John, 1980

Ask Me Why 1963 (recorded in 1962)
I love you, 'cause you tell me things I want to know.
And it's true that it really only goes to show,
That I know,
That I, I, I, I should never, never, never be blue.
Now you're mine, my happiness still makes me cry.
And in time, you'll understand the reason why,
If I cry,
It's not because I'm sad, but you're the only love that I've ever had.
I can't believe it's happened to me
I can't conceive of any more misery.
Ask me why, I'll say I love you,
And I'm always thinking of you.
I love you, 'cause you tell me things I want to know.
And it's true that it really only goes to show,
That I know,
That I, I, I, I should never, never, never be blue.
Ask me why, I'll say I love you,
And I'm always thinking of you.
I can't believe it's happened to me.
I can't conceive of any more misery.
Ask me why, I'll say I love you,
And I'm always thinking of you.

Mr. & Mrs. Lennon

The marriage certificate of John and Cynthia Lennon; the only piece of evidence from August 23, 1962. No photographs were taken.

On August 23, 1962, John Winston Lennon and Cynthia Powell got married at Mount Pleasant Registry Office in the late morning/early afternoon. Cynthia was driven there by Brian Epstein while John, with Paul McCartney and George Harrison, was already there along with Cynthia’s brother and sister-in-law, Tony and Marjory Powell. Tony and Marjory were on a 'lunch break’ from work to quickly attend and represent the Powell family. Meanwhile, John's family was not there due to Mimi's boycott and would receive her wrath if anybody dared to show up. Yet, Paul and George were there to support John, the Beatles’ family. Ringo Starr had just joined the band for a few days but wasn't invited, he wasn't that close to John, Paul, and George just yet.

It was cloudy, raining- not exactly ideal wedding weather but then again, it's what England is known for. Cynthia wore her best black and purple checkered two piece suit (jacket and skirt) with a white blouse given to her by Astrid a year before. Her hair was up in a french braid pleat and she did it herself. Brian was the Best Man, but there was no Maid of Honor, bridesmaid, flowers, not even a darn camera to take pictures! How could anyone not even think of bringing a camera along? I can't ever understand that! Then there's the typical wedding traditions:

Something old… her purple & black suit and handbag (purse)

Something new… a new life growing inside her

Something borrowed…n/a

Something blue… feeling blue

When the register asked for the groom to step forward, jokester George did so but I guess the register wasn't amused. Just as the ceremony began, a loud drill started! The small wedding party couldn't hear a thing! This sounds like a perfect setting for a sitcom… it was hard for everybody (except for the register) to keep a straight face.

Artwork by Cynthia of her wedding to John

“There was a drill going on all the time outside. I couldn't hear a word the bloke was saying. Then we went across the road and had a chicken dinner. I can't remember any presents. We never went in for them. It was all a laugh.”

John, 1968

“I don't remember much about John's wedding. It took place in August 1962. He just went in the registry office in Liverpool one afternoon and in the evening we got into the car, went to the gig (we actually did a gig that night), and it was, 'Well we got married!’ It wasn't hushed up, it just wasn't mentioned to the press. There was no wedding- it was a five minute thing in the Registry Office. It was different in those days. No time to lose.”

George Harrison

The concert was in Chester and it was booked long before the wedding was planned, possibly before Cynthia announced she was pregnant. The wedding party (minus Tony and Marjory) went to Reece's restaurant where they had the lunch special and the newlyweds were toasted with water since Reece's didn't have an alcohol license… which is probably a good thing considering that drinking alcohol is a no no for pregnant women, although it was probably not known of at the time. During lunch, Brian did have a wedding gift for John and Cynthia: his apartment that he occasionally used (mainly for his gay trysts) since John still lived technically at Mimi's and Cynthia's apartment wasn't exactly suited for the growing family. After lunch, John helped Cynthia moved out of her apartment before he went to Mimi's to get his things (I wonder if Mimi was there? Silent treatment?) before going off to Chester while Cynthia arranged the apartment and putting things away.

“The ballroom was long and thin and the dressing room was to the right of the stage. Halfway through our set, mid song, John Lennon jumped up on the stage and yelled at us: 'How many of our fucking numbers are you going to play?' I was very very annoyed and jumped up from my drumming seat, I was the nearest to him. Luckily Dave Williams calmed me down. We were not some up and coming group we were very experienced and you just don’t do that to fellow artists. Well in those days if you lived in a rough area you could always look after yourself and I just reacted instinctively. After Dave calmed me down we just carried on playing. After all, at the time they were just another group, yes they were popular but so was Rory Storm, Faron, Blue Genes, Kingsize and Gerry. And everyone covered the popular numbers, our own and each others. We found out when we came off stage that John had got married that day, Brian Epstein was best man and wanted to keep the wedding hush hush as he felt it would mar the Beatles image with the fans when they found out. Paul and George were also at the wedding as witnesses. John’s Aunt Mimi had boycotted the wedding because she strongly disapproved. Brian treated the wedding party to a wedding breakfast at Reece's Cafeteria in Liverpool. It was also revealed later that Cynthia was pregnant. So bearing all this in mind we forgave him, it must have been a very demanding day for him.”
Harry Prytherch, band member from The Remo Four an opening act for The Beatles in Chester, 2011

“John was dismayed but bowed to the inevitable, though not as dismayed as Mimi or Brian. This wasn't in Brian's plans for the boys at all- a Beatle had to be footloosed and fancy free and available… Although the whole affair was very private and had been hushed up, at one point John did say that he hadn't really wanted to get married and felt pushed into it… No, wedding bliss was not John's scene at all. 'Christ,’ he said after a gig in Chester as we were packing up, 'I can't believe I went through with it.’

Tony Bramwell

“I didn't marry a Beatle. I married a broke student who played the guitar and ponced all my grant money off me for fags*.”

Cynthia, 1999

*Fags is a British slang term for cigarettes

“My wife married me not because I'm a Beatle, but because she loves me.”

John

“Even I only learned the news several weeks later, when I told John of my own plans to marry my girlfriend, Beth, the following March. 'So how about you, John?’ I bantered, well aware of John's disparaging attitude towards the holy institution of marriage, 'When are you and Cyn going to get married, then?’ 'We already are married,’ he said with an embarrassed grin, then hastily changed the subject. He clearly viewed his wedding as a little more than a trivial nuisance and something hardly worth talking about.”

Pete Shotton, 1983

John showing off Cynthia's wedding ring with Ringo Starr at the Peppermint Lounge Club in New York City, February of 1964

Neil Aspinall didn't know John was married other than he and Cynthia were living 'in sin’ whenever he dropped John home from gigs. One day John brought along Ringo to meet Cynthia but said no word about them being married. Cynthia was making Vesta Beef Curry for John but had limited portions; Ringo politely refused the curry and a sandwich she also offered to make other than tea. Cynthia didn't know at the time Ringo’s childhood illnesses and his sensitivity towards certain foods, especially spicy like curry. Their meeting was awkward and standoffish for a little while until it eventually wore off and became good friends.

“When Ringo joined the group, I never told him I was married. At the time I didn't want it to get around and I didn't know how well I could trust him to keep it secret. But it came out one day when we Beatles went to an accountant’s office and he asked, 'Do you have any dependents?’ and I said, 'Yes, I’ve got a wife.’”

John, 1965

“John got married just after I replaced Pete, but nobody told me. I found out when we were to see an accountant about our tax and John started claiming for a dependent. The other two knew, I supposed he wanted it kept secret at that time, and I still wasn't in the inner circle.”

Ringo Starr, 1964

“I didn't go to the wedding- John never even told me he’d got married. John and Cynthia were keeping it a secret from everyone. If something got mentioned, it was, 'Shh, Ring’s in the room…’ John didn't tell me anything until we went on tour and got to know one another in all the doss houses where we camped.”

Ringo Starr

“We were both sort of bowled over by the fact that we were married. It wasn't a question of 'Have we done the right thing?’ It was all perfectly natural that we should be together. But John didn't get a real chance to be first a real husband, or later, a real father. Once he got on the Beatles bandwagon he couldn't get off, even if he wanted to.”

Cynthia, 1985

To me, I don't think of John and Cynthia's wedding as a 'shotgun’. Elopement, sure, but not shotgun. It wasn't as if John knocked Cynthia up after an one night stand or a very brief relationship. They had been together for four years at that point. To be honest, I am surprised that a pregnancy happened then rather than earlier as they were a couple of horny rascals at every chance they had. Whatever he may have felt, John was there. He arrived at the register office before Cynthia did. Cynthia believed that John seemed to have taken the title of husband and soon-to-be father in stride as she noticed the look on his face while they were having their wedding lunch.

Rather than calling Cynthia 'Miss Powell’ or 'Miss Prim’, John started calling her 'Mrs. Lennon’.
Of course, there's always that negativity looming around. Both John and Cynthia doubted that they would have gotten married if she hadn't gotten pregnant. Deep down, they were drifting apart. She was going to be an art teacher while John was a working and traveling musician. They had different outlooks on their future. Shortly after they got married, John traveled to London to record Love Me Do to be released as a single and, in one day, The Beatles recorded their first album, Please Please Me, released in early 1963.

John at the Cavern Club in Liverpool during the afternoon on August 22, 1962, about 24 hours before becoming a married man

“I asked John the crucial question, 'If Cyn had not been pregnant in 1962, would you have gotten married?’ He thought for a long time and then replied, 'It’s a hypothetical question after the event but I don't think so.’ I was left with the impression that John was never truly in love until he met Yoko Ono…”

Tony Barrow

“On different occasions both John and Cyn indicated to me that they married because baby Julian was on the way and without this binding factor both might well have gone their separate ways as soon as the Beatles took off, rather than 6 years later. To have kept the baby but not married would have taken a more courageous soul than John, who was bold but not brave beneath his leathery mask of bravado.”

Tony Barrow

“They were totally opposites but right for each other and, although they came from different backgrounds, they were a perfect match. I think they would obviously have taken longer to get married, but it would have happened. They loved each other very much. There was no separating them.”

Phyllis Mackenzie

“I lived for the moment. I was never really dreaming about the future or marriage or babies. It never entered my mind. I was just very, very happy just to be with him. I’m quite a survivor, so probably inside me I thought, 'Well, I can probably survive whatever happens.’ Youth is very brave and as I said, love is blind. I didn't think about the future.”

Cynthia

“My talents and aspirations had to be put on the back burner, but that was as much my fault as anybody's else’s.”

Cynthia, 1999

“Brian Epstein had a flat near the art college in Faulkner Street, and we moved in there until we got ourselves sorted out.”

Cynthia, 1988

“You know something, when you're young, love is very blind. I had no idea what was going to happen. We were just living for the moment. And that was the way it should’ve been and it was. So, I didn't know. I probably thought at some stage that he would never, ever make any serious commitment or anybody and that he would end up as a drunken bum on the streets. But, I mean he was lucky. He was in the right place at the right time and he had a lot of support from his friends. And of course, meeting Brian, which changed his whole life.”

Cynthia, 2005

“Even though we were at Liverpool Art College together, he was not supportive of my painting. He didn't have time. My painting had to go out of the window. I left college when I became pregnant with Julian and so I didn't get my piece of paper to say I was going to be an art teacher. All I've got is a National Diploma- which I'm very proud of and which hangs on my wall.”

Cynthia, 1995

Volume 1: Meet the Family

Cynthia Powell was born to Charles Edwin and Lillian Anne Roby Powell on September 10, 1939 in Blackpool, England.

John Winston Lennon was born to Alfred and Julia Stanley Lennon on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England.

John and his mother Julia in 1949

By the time John and Cynthia started dating, John's mother Julia and Cynthia's father Charles were already deceased. John's father Alfred was pretty much long gone and out of John's life at this point and he was living with Julia’s eldest sister Mimi (who deserves her own post!) since he was five. Although he saw his mother occasionally while growing up, they didn't get to spend more time together until his teens. Cynthia was living with her mother and she had a normal childhood; she had both of her parents until her father died of lung cancer. His death shattered Lillian and Cynthia to the point where Cynthia was willing to drop her art college dreams but her mother insisted to pursued her dreams. They would find ways to manage.

Some say that Julia would have loved Cynthia while she believed that if her father had lived, Charles wouldn't have liked John…

“Mummy would have loved her and the adoring way she was with John.”

Julia Baird

“I knew Dad would have advised me against him and perhaps I would have listened. But Dad wasn't there and Mum was still too weighed down by her own grief to guide me. So I plunged right in and went for broke.”

Cynthia, 1994

“Even so, had my father not died when I was 17, I think that's exactly what I would have done- ignore it. I could never have taken John home to meet my beloved Dad. My gentle, unassuming father just wouldn't have understood John and I knew it. With Dad there to guide me, I think I’d steered well clear of 'dangerous’ John Lennon. But there you are, he wasn't, and I plunged joyfully into the deep end. That's fate. John and I were obviously meant to be together.”

Cynthia, 1994

When John and Cynthia became a solid couple and this wasn't going to be a passing affair, they decided it was time to meet the families. Lillian did take notice of how often Cynthia was out while Mimi was aware of Cynthia's existence… but as I wrote earlier, Mimi will have a post all of her own.

Then, there's Alfred. He was a Seaman, working at… well, the sea! It seemed to have been a big job in those days. After all, Liverpool was the biggest industrialized porting city in the world in that time! He’d come home at various inconsistency times while John was a toddler. Julia wasn't too happy about that and had an affair with an another man. She got pregnant; during his visits, Freddie seemed to have understood the affair and offered to raise the baby as his own. But Julia refused. He was away far more than he was at home. Freddie left Julia for good and only returned once to take five years old John to Blackpool. John started living with Mimi at the time; how Alfred managed to get John away, he must've been quite a charmer for Mimi to relent. After the due date came and went to return John to Mimi, Alfred was deciding to keep John with him. But Julia discovered his whereabouts and John chosed to go back to Liverpool with Julia, back to Mimi. It would be 20 years later for father and son to reunite. As for the baby, well, she was given up for adoption as Julia had very few to no options else to do in 1945. Anyway, while John and Cynthia were getting to know each other, Alfred was a rare subject. John's fairytale belief was that his father had a great singing voice, a hero in the distance with important work on the sea. Cynthia did eventually meet Alfred when she was already John's wife, mother of Julian, and living in a mansion- but that's for Volume 2 of family members (Volume 1 is dating, Volume 2 is marriage and beyond). History does tend to repeat itself in the Lennon family.

At first sight, possibly by first discussion, it was quite clear that Lillian and John weren't each other's favorite person. I suppose the best way to put this is that they tolerated each other (up to a point) for Cynthia's sake. Yet, Cynthia always said Lillian and John got along, while everyone else says opposite. Maybe she was in denial or wanted to focus on positive so much that the negative faded? Who knows? Lillian would have preferred if Cynthia had a much better potential future boyfriend rather than some Teddy Boy rocker with attitude. According to Pete Shotton, Lillian had Cynthia under her thumb.

“I wasn't in a hurry to introduce John to my mother. I wanted to prepare her for the shock. He was never over polite and he looked so scruffy and like a Teddy Boy. My mother played it cool. She was good, really, though I'm sure she was hoping for it to peter out. But she never tried to stop it.”

Cynthia, 1968

“He ran out of the house after he and Mum hadn't got on well. It was all very tense, that first meeting. I ran after him and found him halfway between the house and the station. He wanted to get back to Liverpool quickly. But I persuaded him to return and patch up the argument for my sake. Mum wasn't mad about his appearance and made it clear to him. She’d much rather I’d chosen a clean-cut office type.”

Cynthia, 1985

Cynthia's father Charles and her two brothers, Charles and Tony circa 1931

From Julian Lennon's Instagram @julespicturepalace

Cynthia told a familiar story of John leaving her house in her 2005 book (John) and she chasing after him but used it for the time Lillian and Mimi met face to face. Did John run out of the house on both occasions? I’ll discuss more on that momentarily. Anyway, after that first meeting, John rarely went over to the Powell family home while dating Cynthia. More about John and Lillian's relationship in Volume 2.

The one other rare time John was visiting Cynthia's family home, her eldest brother Charles was visiting. He realized John had little money and offered him his old sweaters. John was touched and from that moment on (at least until the divorce), John had a soft spot for Charles. Charles eventually moved to Libya and in February of 1967, he married Penny Jackson. John met Cynthia's other older brother, Tony, at his wedding to Marjory Joyce in April of 1960. Cynthia was the bridesmaid and John agreed to go and surprised Cynthia by dressing in a suit, wore his glasses, and was on his best behavior to meet her extended family for the first time. John bonded with Tony by their sense of humor. Tony and Marjory were the only family guests to later attend John and Cynthia's wedding in 1962.

I don't know exactly when John and Cynthia decided that it was time for Lillian and Mimi to meet. Of course it was inevitable. Lillian and Mimi did have a few things in common: both were widows, taken in lodgers to help make ends meet, both grew up in the same generation. John and Cynthia probably thought the women could be best friends and have an once a week tea get together. Nope. Well, at first, it went well. Cynthia and Lillian tidied up their house, used their best plates and silverware, and John even looked decent. There was a pleasant conversation that was just about to become a relaxing atmosphere when, bang! Mimi made a comment about Cynthia taking John's attention away from his studies. Let's be honest here, folks… Cynthia is not to blame on that accusation. Maybe partial but it was definitely music! Naturally, Lillian defended Cynthia and the two women went at it, picking faults about John and Cynthia. After that meeting, Lillian and Mimi were mostly kept apart.

“John and I were very upset. We were both in love with each other, and for the two dearest people in our lives to stand in front of us saying what terrible people we were, and how they hated us for getting together, was awful. I think they did it because they didn't get on and they didn't want us to get on either. But the experience was horrible.”

Cynthia, 1985