Updated Information

I found out some new things about John Twist recently, both in relation to my two pasts posts: Cynthia’s Stepdaughters and A Marriage to Forget.

John’s father was named Albert.

His ex wife (before Cynthia) was named Ann and their daughter is named Rebecca. Their divorce came final around 1975. Here's a quote from Ann:

“Our divorce came through at the beginning of the year. I’ve no plans of my own at the moment. I am living on my own with our daughter, Rebecca.”

John and Cynthia’s honeymoon was in Greece.
 

Cynthia's Stepdaughters

Cynthia first became a stepmother to a young girl when she married John Twist in 1976. I don't have any information on that as Cynthia never spoke about her - perhaps protecting Ms. Twist's privacy. Cynthia only made a passing mention of the young girl publicly in one of her life stories (for the life of me, I can't remember where I read it from... 1994 HELLO! magazine or 2005 book John...? No matter the source, it was mentioned somewhere!) so I have no clue on Cynthia's relationship with Ms. Twist. 

Cynthia became a stepmother again in 2002. Noel Charles had four daughters from three previous relationships: Lisa, Penelope, Chloe, and Rosanna. 

From my research (mostly social media), Lisa, Chloe, and Rosanna are close together and were close to their father. Noel more or less admitted he wasn't around a lot as a father: Lisa was raised in the foster care system in England, both Chloe and Rosanna were mostly with their mothers in Canada and Sweden. I honestly have no idea about Penelope; I only know she shares the same mother with Lisa and had no relationship with Noel although he always counted her as his. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything else on the internet on Penelope. Cynthia had a relationship with the three girls, and got along well with them.

Lisa Senford O'Donovan was born on October 2, 1960 while her parents were college students. Wanting to be able to focus on their studies, Lisa was put in the foster care system (for the record, Noel did offer Sonja marriage but her parents really wanted their daughter to be a radiologist). Noel went to Barbados for four months while Sonja was pregnant with their second daughter but by the time he returned, Sonja had vanished and he had no idea on the whereabouts on Penelope. Sonja did get Lisa out of foster care and Noel was able to reunite with Lisa in the 1970s. Lisa currently lives in Romford, England and has an adult son named Joel born on July 20, 1985. 

Chloe

Chloe Charles was born on May 24, 1985 during his marriage to Victoria Richmond and for the first six months of her life, Noel got to really experience fatherhood... until his marriage to her mother failed (the divorce took over 20 years to be finalized). Noel moved away and didn't see Chloe for quite some time but they were able to established a close relationship. Chloe met Cynthia when she was 16 when she went to Normandy, France to visit her father. When Noel and Cynthia went to Toronto to surprise Chloe on her 17th birthday, they decided to get married while there with Chloe in attendance. Chloe became a singer and musician, living in Canada. She is married to Chris Argiropulos and they have two children, Dafni Victoria on October 4, 2019 and Evander Heath on April 25, 2021. Chloe has met May Pang and is close to Julian.

Rosanna

Rosanna Charles was born on April 16, 1989 during his relationship with Ann Eklund while still legally married to Victoria Richmond. Rosanna was 10 years old when Noel and Cynthia got together; not too much is known but from what I can tell there was a good relationship with stepmother a nd daughter. Rosanna lives in Sweden as a casting agent.

Newlyweds with a Twist

Please note that the above photo that says Cynthia Powell Lennon @ Yahoo! (Groups) is now defunct, at best. Yahoo Groups decided to cut off photos, files, polls, all amenities to make it into a message community board only. Honestly, that's no fun and useless, so I deleted most of mine off. CPL isn't mine, it belong to Lynn. Not to worry though: she's on Tumblr and Facebook where Lynn continues to share her outstanding collection.

Field of Dreams

North Wales

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

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.

John and Cynthia near their home in Ruthin, North Wales in 1978

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

Restaurant Entrepreneur

I wouldn't call Cynthia a kind of person to be in the kitchen, at least not as a little girl. I don't think Cynthia helped out her mother Lillian with the family meals. It wasn't until much later, while married to John Lennon, Cynthia realized her cooking skills were limited. Once she got married, reality set in. It was one thing as a single college woman living on fish and chips and boxed/packets of food to quickly cook. But once the ring was on her finger and a baby growing inside her that Cynthia would be in the kitchen more. Vesta Beef Curry, sausage and mash, and cheese on toast were what Cynthia could manage in 1962; she would try to twist the Vesta Beef Curry up with rice or bananas.

"I was happy enough battling with the washing and ironing and teaching myself to cook.  I'm afraid I wasn't much good in the kitchen but fortunately John was easy to please.  His favourite meal at the time was Vesta Beef Curry- a dehydrated powder to which you just added water - followed by a banana sandwich and even I could manage that."

Cynthia, 1994

While pregnant with Julian and living with Aunt Mimi, Cynthia mentioned on the good days with  Mimi, she was taught how to make apple pie, among other things.

"When John was there Mimi was fine but when he was away she could be moody and sharp-tongued and in my over-sensitive pregnant state I frequently retired hurt.  Admittedly on good days she helped me with my cooking and taught me to make apple pie but, on balance, it wasn't a happy arrangement."

Cynthia, 1994

Especially once the Lennon family moved to Weybridge and started to host parties with other celebrities and well-to-do visitors, Cynthia bought lots of cookbooks to expand her repertoire when entertaining at home. Because her kitchen was designed by an interior designer as very modern with gadgets that freaked out Cynthia- there would be someone that would have to go to the house to teach Cynthia how to use a mysterious kitchen gadget. If it was too complicated, then it would be on the shelf gathering dust. When they wanted to go out and not be mobbed, Brian Epstein provided a list of places to go... in one restaurant, John and Cynthia were introduced to garlic. John also loved a roast of lamb.

“His favorite must have been lamb. When he came home to Harrie's with Yoko in 1969 she cooked him a leg of lamb when he was all macrobiotic and he loved it. When Cynthia and he were entertaining at Kenwood he particularly wanted her to cook a leg of lamb.”

Julia Baird, 1986

"He loved corn flakes and banana for breakfast and roast lunches on Sundays."
Cynthia, 1994

There was a time, probably around 1967, when John went vegetarian but it didn't last very long. When The Beatles’ biographer Hunter Davies stayed with the family, he observed that Cynthia does all the cooking while John sometimes makes tea; on one particular occasion, Cynthia served a slice of melon as a starter/appetizer and then cold meat with mashed potatoes and cauliflower along with milk by 6:30 PM. John didn't eat the meat because of his newfound vegetarianism. I'm also sure that dinner wasn't served often at 6:30 if John was in a recording studio.

Cynthia and Roberto dining, probably taken at Da Bassano restaurant in 1969

Fast-forward to Cynthia's time with Roberto Bassanini, her second husband. Roberto’s family owned and ran hotels and restaurants in Italy- it's how Cynthia crossed paths with the Bassanini family while on vacation with Julian in 1966, staying and dining there. In 1968, Roberto moved to England to woo a newly-separated single mother Cynthia while becoming a restaurant manager for his father's Da Bassano at the time. Unfortunately, Roberto was an immature partygoer who wanted to be loved and very generous to his friends, letting them fill up the restaurant and eating for free, which was bad for business. It wasn't until after their divorce that Roberto grew up and became a successful businessman.

Julian outside of Oliver's Bistro in 1981

The restaurant business must have grew on Cynthia when after she married her third husband, John Twist, and trying to make ends meet, that they opened restaurant and inn Oliver's Bistro in Wales in 1980. It was also perhaps a way to try to survive a failing marriage that was doomed from the start (more on that later!). It was Cynthia and John, along with Angie McCartney (Mike McCartney's ex-wife; former sister-in-law of Paul's) and John’s parents helping out.

"We both do the cooking and I do everything from spud-bashing to waitressing. We work well together and we work hard. We're learning as we go along but I think we've achieved something.”
Cynthia, 1980

“I waited tables, cooked and worked from 7 each morning to 2 a.m. the next.”
Cynthia, 1981

“Eventually towards the end of 1979 we opened a restaurant in North Wales. We called it Oliver's, as in Oliver Twist, and Mike McCartney's ex-wife Angie, who was a great cook, came to work with us. It was bistro food and we took it in turns to make our specialties. Angie would do Navarin of Lamb, John did Chicken Paprika which he was very good at and I did Spaghetti Milanese - a legacy of the Italian cooking I'd learned from my Italian mother-in-law. The three of us did everything. We cooked, we waited on tables, we worked and worked. It nearly killed us. But the business grew. Sadly, as the business flourished, my third marriage began to disintegrate.”
Cynthia, 1994

But the inn and restaurant phase didn't last and neither did the Twist marriage by 1981.

Cynthia and her second restaurant, Bunter's, in 1988

In 1988 and now with longtime boyfriend Jim Christie, Cynthia found herself in her second attempt of running a restaurant business: Bunter's in Isle of Man.

"For the last six months we've had the restaurant. It was fate that we got it. When we first  came to the island we stayed at a bed-and-breakfast place with a lady called Mrs Jennings.  Within walking distance was this restaurant called Bunter's; we fell in love with the  atmosphere, but didn't have any ideas about running a restaurant, none whatsoever. We got very friendly with the owner, who was 60 at the time. He decided he had had enough of it and said we were the people he would love to buy it off him. So we started thinking about it. We'd only come here for a sabbatical, to take a year off and that's what we were doing before we got started to get bored stiff and this came along. Now we are there every evening. I tried running a bistro before in 1978, but it didn't really work, and my marriage to John Twist had broken up. Then it was time to change direction. It led to my first exhibition of cartoons and drawings in America and led me more into the artistic side of life. But as Jim's parents had run restaurants, we decided to give it a go and we're really doing okay with it."

Cynthia, 1988

Cynthia found herself doing exactly what she was doing a few years prior but didn't mind- she did enjoy the work. But the Bunter's experience didn't last long, only for a year. I guess Jim and Cynthia sold it before moving on to something else. They did continue to live on Isle of Man for a number of years until moving to France before eventually breaking up by 1999.

Lee Starkey, Cynthia, Julian, and Maureen Tigrett in Lennon's, 1989

In 1989, Cynthia gave the restaurant business a third and final try: Lennon's in London. The walls were decorated of articles on the Beatles, with memorabilia and dishes like Rubber Sole and Sgt. Pepper Steak. At first it seemed successful… Maureen was a frequent customer during its short life. But competition in the neighborhood was tough: it rivaled Bill Wyman's Sticky Fingers that is still in business to this very day. Cynthia left the business; Lennon's did try to continue on but not long until it finally folded. However, Cynthia carried on her love of food and cooking until her death.

“Noel and I love cooking. He does his cooking and I do mine. I’m the traditional English cook, with a twist now and then. Because I was married to an Italian, I’m also pretty good at Italian food. Noel, he can cook anything, so can Julian.”
Cynthia, 2005

“She was a real good cook. She was the one who got me to like roasted lamb with potatoes. In the early days at my house, she would say, 'Let's have a bacon butte.’ They were always so delicious and I'm surprised I wasn't 300 lbs by the time she went home! When I last saw her at her home in Spain, she had had a pot cooking on the stove for days, making her amazing gravy. Any food that wasn't used or leftover went into that pot. I got a little taste of it the day I was heading back to London. I had so wished that the gravy was ready before I left. The taste lingered on my palate for a while.”

May Pang, John's assistant and former girlfriend, 2015

Julian cooking at home in 2011

"The first thing Julian wanted to do in life, well, before he wanted to be an artist and then a musician, was to be a chef. He'd come home and say 'Why don't you bake cakes like my friends' mothers?' I'd say, 'Oh, Julian, go out and buy a Mary Baker cake mix and do it yourself!' That started him off! By the time he was 13, he'd disappear into the kitchen whenever we had visitors and emerge with beautiful canapes. Now he thinks nothing of cooking for ten or 15 people, and he does it so calmly."
Cynthia, 1999

"I probably have more of a passion for cooking than I do for music. I love traveling and finding great little hideout restaurants and little villages and going to the open markets. Eventually I must admit I want to do a cookbook, though people might think it a bit gimmicky - the musician turned cook. Cooking and music, they're very much the same sort of therapy. Both depend on adding the right ingredients to come up with a product that not only you, but everyone else, enjoys. A friend of mine in the South of France has a house with an enormous kitchen. When I'm staying there I tend to find myself less in the sun than cooking for about ten people every day. Music might give me a couple of hits a year, but in cooking, depending on how many meals I cook, I can get three hits a day!"
Julian

“If I hadn't gotten involved in musical photography, I would've been a chef. Food is one of my number one things in the world; I absolutely adore it and have been involved with several restaurants. I was living life a little bit, because when you're on the treadmill of the industry, you literally don't have much of an outside life.”

Julian, 2014

“Of course, my initial choice before music was to be a chef. I am a closet chef! There’s a great similarity between all of that. It’s mixing it up in the pots for the finished product. I like to do fusion and a little bit of everything.”

Julian, 2016

“Cooking. Well actually, I’m such a food lover I’m not sure I ever could. If I hadn’t gone into music, I would have been a chef.”

Julian, 2016

Julian did follow in his mother's footsteps but is more of an investor and part owner of several restaurants. Here's what I know of:

1995- The Revolution in San Francisco, California

2003- Red Bar & Grill in Mallorca, Spain

2004- Blowfish Sushi To Die For Restaurant in San Francisco, California

"This is something I've dreamt about for six years with my old songwriting partner Todd Meagher. He now lives in San Francisco and it seems as if he may have found some people to support our ideas. People will tie the name in with the Beatles but there is no connection. It's similar in concept to 'Planet Hollywood' or the 'Hard Rock Cafe,' but instead of displaying memorabilia from the film or music industries it will be tied in with men, women and companies who have made a change for the positive in this world. For instance some of the pieces may come from Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa. For the rest of the displays we hope to hang work from artists and photographers in San Francisco and part of the money raised from the sale of these works will go back into local charities. It will be a socially-conscious, awareness-raising venture. The idea is for people to come and enjoy themselves, and leave with more than just a full stomach."

Julian, 1995 about Revolution

“Had I not been involved in taking the direction of music or now with my interest in photography I certainly would have been a chef, no question about that. When I was living in Spain I opened what was probably the first of its kind lounge bar/club with fusion food. They’ve never seen anything like it. In the polls we ranked three years in a row, one, two and three. So we did pretty well with them and I oversaw the whole putting together of it. That was one of my desires. It was just a nice escape from the industry and everything I knew. So to be able to go and open that lounge bar/club on this beautiful Spanish island was wonderful.”

Julian, 2013 about Red Bar & Grill

As far as I know, Blowfish is still in business. I don't know about Red nor Revolution, it doesn't really show up when I Googled it to see if it was still open. So far, Julian doesn't want to do a cookbook as he wants to keep his secrets of cooking tight-lipped. He did reveal that there was an idea of musicians doing a cooking show but it was never materialized other than being an idea … who knows? Maybe one day Julian will share his cooking wisdom with us. Never say never!