![Julian Lennon talks about life with his Beatle dad John Lennon]( "Julian Lennon talks about life with his Beatle dad John Lennon")
Julian Lennon talks about life with his Beatle dad John Lennon
THE breakdown of a marriage is often hardest on the children. But imagine what it must be like when your father is one of the most famous men on the planet, and that breakdown is played out in the full glare of the world’s spotlight?
It’s not surprising Julian Lennon has been wary in the past of discussing the father he barely knew but whom the world embraced.
He’s previously said he has “talked about dad enough”, and indeed in the last few years he’s made only brief contributions to the Lennon legend – a forward to mum Cynthia’s book John, and a BBC profile of the former Beatle.
But like everything in life, things change, and today the Beatles Story opens a new exhibition drawn together by mother and son telling the story of family life with John Lennon the man rather than Lennon the icon.
The show, at the Beatles Story’s new Pier Head site, features more than 30 of the Lennons’ personal possessions including handwritten postcards, photographs, sketches, childhood drawings, gold discs, a motorbike and even his Afghan coat.
All treasured possessions passed down through the family? Not exactly.
Many of the mementoes have been bought back by Julian, something that saddens his mum. She tells me: “He’s spent a lot of money on memorabilia that he should have had by right.”
“Nothing was passed down to me after dad passed,” Julian says matter-of-factly. “The only way I could regain any of his belongings or any of the Beatles works was to go out and buy them myself.
“If in the future, if I have a family, I’d want them to have part of their heritage or life, either in their own personal possession or an exhibition like this.”
In the exhibition, The Spirit Of Lennon, the 46-year-old describes growing up as John Lennon’s son as “a rocky path”.
It began on April 8, 1963 when John Charles Julian Lennon was born at Sefton General hospital near Sefton Park.
His parents, who had met at Liverpool Art College as teenagers, had married the previous August but Beatles manager Brian Epstein – Julian’s godfather – had wanted both wife and child kept in the background for fear of alienating female fans.
The Lennons left Liverpool when Julian was only a few months old, and yesterday was, remarkably, the first time they had both been back to the city together since then.
“It’s good to get back to where you belong,” Cynthia smiles. “We went back to Hoylake together, to my parents, but never to Liverpool. I’ve still got one or two pals around here, but the rest of our family are all gone.”
From Liverpool the young family first moved to a flat in London’s Kensington which, as Cynthia recalls in the exhibition, was always surrounded by fans wanting to photograph or touch Julian, then later to their mock Tudor pile Kenwood in leafy Surrey.
Fab Four commitments meant it was already, to a large extent, a fatherless childhood before the Beatle’s very public exit from the family home with new love Yoko Ono when his son was just five.
That abandonment inspired Paul McCartney to write Hey Jude for the youngster.
“It was mum who told me when I was a teenager that Hey Jude was written for me,” says a relaxed looking Julian, sporting a white feather necklace – the symbol of his humanitarian charity and part of the title of the exhibition. “I had been told many years before but forget because of all the trauma that went on in life with the separation.
“What it meant to me was that there were other people on the fringe of our life that had a great deal of love for not only myself, but mum too.
“To this day, I still have to thank Paul for his love and care. It was a very, very kind gesture.”
Julian has previously admitted “a great deal of anger” towards his father, particularly as a teenager and young man, and he had only just begun to build a relationship with Lennon again when the former Beatle was gunned down.
Age though, he admits, has mellowed that feeling.
“It’s definitely changed without a doubt,” he says. “I’ve realised anger and hate wastes a lot of time and energy and I’d rather redirect that energy to good and positive uses.
“I think that’s part and parcel of what we’re trying to do with White Feather, to show that we still love the man and the Beatles. It’s been a tough few decades but I think we’ve come out the other side feeling hopeful.”
The musician, who now lives in France, set up the foundation, which offers support and aid to threatened communities, after being presented with a white feather – the sign his father had once told him he’d send if he died – by Aborigines in Australia.
It’s a way of continuing the message spread by his dad.
“He was a great talent, a remarkable man who stood for love and peace in the world.”
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2009/06/17/ju...
