Maureen, Ringo, John, and Cynthia lining up for food at Saville Theatre after seeing the premiere of Arts Theatre on February 17, 1966 in London.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Stand By Me
In 1989, Julian was on tour to support his Mr. Jordan album in America. At the same time, Cynthia was helping Sid Bernstein to organize a concert dedicated to John (more detailed post another day). On August 3rd, both mother and son were in New York City. Cynthia thought that the John tribute concert could use an extra touch: Yoko's blessing. So, she and her boyfriend Jim Christie went to The Dakota where John used to live to meet with Yoko to discuss. It was the first and only time Cynthia visited The Dakota. After the meeting, Cynthia and Jim raced to get to the Beacon Theater for Julian's concert. Yoko, Sean, and Yoko's companion Sam Havadtoy arrived at the concert late and sat a couple of rows behind Cynthia and Jim. In between songs, Julian invited his brother on stage to join him.
"My brother came out with a record. Boom! It was gold; he was playing the Beacon Theater in New York. It was mad."
Sean Lennon, 1998
With Sean on acoustic guitar, he and Julian sang Stand By Me, much to the audience's delight. Stand By Me was originally recorded by Ben E. King in 1961; John later covered the song in 1975 (well, technically in 1974 but was released in 1975 on his Rock and Roll album). When John performed it (for a television special; now considered to be an official music video), he gave Julian a shout out. After when Ben E. King died in 2015 (April 30th… Cynthia died the 1st), Julian wrote in his tribute that John used to sing the song to him. Julian also covered the song and it became a song he performed often in his performances. That night, both of John's sons sang the song.
Afterwards, an after-party was held at A Hard Rock Cafe. For the first time ever, pictures of Cynthia and Yoko together were taken. According to her John book, Cynthia beamed while Yoko managed a small smile but there was definitely tension between the two.
Friday, June 12, 2020
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Newlyweds with a Twist
A Marriage to Forget
"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. Unfortunately, once again, life was complicated. John Twist was made redundant and we cast about for some form of income. Eventually towards the end of 1979 we opened a restaurant in North Wales... But the business grew. Sadly, as the business flourished, my third marriage began to disintegrate. The stress and strain of working so hard took its toll and maybe caused underlying problems to surface. I think it was difficult for John to be married to the ex-wife of a Beatle. I was always being introduced as Cynthia Lennon as if my new husband didn't exist. Roberto hadn't minded this, he was so easy-going he couldn't care less. But John Twist was a proud man and I think he did care."
Cynthia, 1994
John and Cynthia near their home in Ruthin, North Wales in 1978
Although John Twist doesn't seem to be a bad guy, Cynthia's marriage with him is considered to be a mistake. He's the only stepfather Julian never liked. Although Cynthia and Julian would prefer to forget that part, I can't as John Twist is part of the story.
John was born around 1945 in Lancashire, England and was living near Liverpool as an engineer and draftsman by the time he met Cynthia around 1973, 1974. At the time, John was married and having marital problems; they had a baby daughter. John was friends with Helen Anderson; she threw a party with both John and Cynthia there. Cynthia wasn't looking for romance. She was having marital problems of her own and in the process of divorcing Roberto Bassanini.
"In Hoylake I started getting to know some of my old friends again. A girlfriend called me up one day and said she was being taken to a works 'Christmas do' and why didn't I come along and have an evening out? There was nothing romantic between her and the man she was going with, so I said I'd go."
Cynthia, 1976
"John's work colleagues couldn't understand what he was doing there with two women, and they stared at us in silent disapproval all evening. But, to my relief, he asked me out for a drink, so we met again and got talking properly. He told me about his baby daughter, and how he'd separated from his wife, and I remember giving him a pep-talk about not falling for anybody on the rebound. I said: 'It's wonderful to be free'. I wasn't of course. I was still married. But I felt free. I'm happier now than I've been for a long time. You want to enjoy your freedom. Don't go falling for anyone on the rebound. It sounds funny now because I was interested in him and I knew he was interested in me, but I wanted it to be for the right reasons, not merely because he'd separated from his wife and was lonely. It ended with us promising to marry each other as soon as we were able. By that time we'd known each other a fortnight."
Cynthia, 1976
"I knew John was nervous with me. He was imagining all sorts of things. He's a mechanical engineer, and he had visions of me wanting a jet-set life. It was only when he got to know me that he realized how wrong he was."
Cynthia, 1976
"I expected her to be very conscious of who she was, and to treat everyone else as being slightly beneath her. It took me a long time to get used to the fact that she didn't. In some ways I've found that easier to get used to. The fact that she was so modest and down-to-earth threw me slightly. It took about 18 months for our divorces to come through, partly because solicitors think that the shortest distance between two points is to go round the world. By the time I'd left the job in Liverpool and started working for a firm in Rhyl, which isn't too far from here, so now we live here all the time."
John Twist, 1976
Julian with John and Cynthia in Ruthin, North Wales, 1976
Cynthia and John started seeing each other more, she enjoyed his company, and next thing you know, boyfriend and girlfriend status. Around the time Cynthia was helping Julian to reconnect with his father, John Twist showed up at her doorstep with baggage and his dog after losing his job and home. Against her subconscious unsettling judgement, Cynthia let him in. Some time went by until Cynthia discovered quite a few things about John's marriage (like, he was married! Apparently that never came up in their conversations while dating) and was horrified. But it was too late, Cynthia and John were too deeply involved and I guess they thought marriage would solve all their problems. On May 6, 1976, John and Cynthia got married at Glendywr Register Office. Helen designed her wedding dress, but she didn't say anything about second thoughts until afterwards during the wedding reception. The marriage was doomed from the start, there was a mistrust in the relationship which isn't a great way to keep it going. But, anyway, at that moment, Cynthia was trying to be optimistic and perhaps John was the knight in shiny armor she was looking for? John and Cynthia received a congratulatory telegram from ex-husband John and Yoko, so Cynthia took it as a positive sign.
Cynthia and John at her A Twist of Lennon book launch in June of 1978
They settled in Ruthlin, North Wales and took on a series of odd jobs to make ends meet. For awhile, things were going good until a first major blip of trouble happened: John convinced Cynthia to write a book about her life with ex-husband John. Cynthia was hesitant but got carried away with her husband's dream of riches at the end of the financial tunnel. Cynthia published A Twist of Lennon in 1978. Ex-husband John was not amused. Needless to say, the experience didn't go as planned.
"He's a good man. Kind, gentle, down-to-earth and sane."
Cynthia, 1976
"He won't suffer fools gladly. He'll be very direct and honest.It shocks me sometimes because I've spent so long with people who needed to be rubbed up the right way, to be encouraged and bolstered up. I learned to be diplomatic. But I know John's way is right."
Cynthia, 1976
"It doesn't worry me to be married to another John. Only occasionally, when people call us 'John and Cyn', I catch my breath slightly. Because it was a phrase I heard so very often in the old days. But apart from that I'm not bothered."
Cynthia, 1976
"I do worry about my John. He's married to John Lennon's wife and is stepfather to John Lennon's son, and that's very hard for anyone to follow. He's very sensitive, he has his imagination and his insecurities like anyone else, and no one will allow us to forget the past. Wherever we go, whatever shop we enter, there are Beatles records playing. If we meet people it always seems to crop up. Julian is always playing his father's records. I work hard to dismiss the past, but it can never really be dismissed. I think sometimes this upsets John a little. It makes him feel a bit inadequate, and there is no reason for my John to feel inadequate in any way. I try to make it clear to him that for me those years are dead and buried, and sometimes I think maybe I overdo it, and it backfires. If we walk into a shop and there's a Beatles record playing I tend to overreact a bit and say: 'Oh no, not again,' when perhaps it would be better if I said nothing and just let it go. But I do it because I'm feeling for him and want to reassure him. He's feeling his way carefully in his relationship with Julian. He has to accept that Julian's father can give him a lot of material things that he can't. But then there are things that my John can give, too, like help and advice, and constant attention."
Cynthia, 1976
"Of course I felt when I introduced him to John there were one or two small jealousy problems. But now he not only likes him, he's actually proud of him. I've heard him boasting to his friends: 'John can do this, John tells me that.' John being mechanical helps. It means he's got all the skills that a boy of Julian's age most admires. It seems strange to me now that when I first came looking for a house in Wales I was sure I'd never marry again. I was going to devote my life to Julian and try to establish myself as an artist. I'll still paint several hours a day, and I'll establish myself if I can, but now I can't imagine my life without John. There'll be no money problems in this marriage. When I was divorced from my first John I settled for a lump sum rather than maintenance. And I was badly advised about its investment, so I am comfortably off but not wealthy. And I'm glad. We share our finances, and that's how it should be. I have only one thing left to wish for, and that will come in time."
Cynthia, 1976
John and Cynthia at their home in Ruthin, North Wales in 1978
In the beginning of 1980, while struggling to hold the marriage together, John and Cynthia opened a restaurant and inn, Oliver's Bistro. John and Cynthia did everything: washing laundry, cleaning, cooking, making beds, prep food, tend to customers, you name it. They had little help: Paul McCartney's ex-sister-in-law Angie (was married to Mike), whose mind and focus wasn't all there, and John's parents. Cynthia's mother Lillian was living with John and Cynthia but she had Alzheimer's disease, so I don't think she did much. The business did very well, not exactly rich but it had potential to continue for years. But… not long for John and Cynthia.
John and Cynthia taking Julian to the airport after John Lennon's death, December of 1980.
On December 8, 1980, Cynthia's ex-husband John was murdered in New York City. Cynthia wasn't home with John and Julian- she was on a business trip to London to sign some paperwork on behalf of Oliver's Bistro. She was staying with Maureen Starkey [I promise you this will be more in depth in a post of it's own of John Lennon's death, in the meantime let's stick to John Twist] when she heard the news. Meanwhile back in North Wales, Julian was sleeping, or was trying to sleep while John Twist discovered the news. I think Yoko called to notify Julian (or an assigned employee) as it was around 3 or 4 AM British time that John Lennon died; unless John Twist was a late night nightowl, he could have heard on the radio or television but I really think there was a phone call. It was almost immediately that their home/Oliver's Bistro got a crowd of reporters, paparazzi, and Beatle fans. John noticed, as did Julian. Cynthia had spoken to John to let him know she was coming home accompanied by Maureen and her son Zak but don't tell Julian: she wanted to tell him. But it was too much, Julian knew something was up. They lived in a quiet sleepy town and the crowd like that wouldn't be if something wasn't wrong, so John told Julian about his father's death. After a tender moment, Julian decided to go to New York, so John and Cynthia accompanied him to the airport.
During the Christmas holidays, Cynthia was in a haze, numb, and grieving while business was business as usual. By the beginning of 1981, it was definitely clear that the Twist marriage was over.
"Everybody was kind and John Twist was supportive but we both knew that our marriage was over. We sold the restaurant as soon as we could and went our separate ways."
Cynthia, 1994 (referring after John Lennon's death in 1980)
John and Cynthia were officially divorced in 1983. From what I gathered from what I found on Facebook (which isn't much), John Twist may have remarried as he has a son and is still alive.
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