Who was Julian Lennon’s mother? (I presume it was not Yoko.) And, where is Julian today?
His first wife, Cynthia Powell. Don’t know what Julian’s been up to lately - but IIRC there was a SDMB thread on the Beatles’ children some time ago.
Interesting. Where’s she been hiding? I never heard much about how she took the news of his death. Not sure why I have come to think of this about 25 years later. I don’t even recall Yoko saying much…or, perhaps I didn’t care to hear what she had to say.
Here is Cynthia’s Wikipedia page. She has been divorced and remarried several times. Currently, she is married to Noel Charles, and lives in Majorca, Spain.
And here is Julian’s page. He’s sort of been keeping a low profile for awhile, but has been involved in projects more or less continuously since becoming a professional recording artist.
Cynthia just wrote a book about John, actually. It’s called John. Haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but it’s on my to-read list, probably for next year.
It’s weird, isn’t it? Julian is four years older than his father ever was.
I’ve read her book A Twist of Lennon (a pun using her surname at the time, which was Twist) which was written in the 1970s. She came across as a little stuffy and naive.
Cynthia’s John (2005) is nice to listen to as an audiobook or mp3 because Cynthia reads it. The Foreword is written and read by Julian. Both their voices are pleasant and suited to extended listening (about 11 hours). I found Julian’s Foreword especially dignified, fair-minded, and lacking any hint of bitterness.
She wrote another book about him in 1980,** A Twist of Lennon**.
Cynthia Lennon tends to get dismissed about some twit who forced John to marry her by getting pregnant. I recently read “John” and was amazed to realize she was with him for ten years, or half his adult life (20 to 30).
Her book is definitely worth a read.
There’s a website for everything, including Beatles’ kids (& grandkids)
The old Beatles bio, The Love You Make, was based significantly on interviews with Cynthia - and that comes through in the reading of it…
Thanks for the recommendation, but I’m a little confused: according to what I could find on Audible.com, Cynthia reads the abridged version of the audiobook (which is about 5 hours long) but not the unabridged. Which version did you listen to?
I read in some account that Paul McCartney threw that book in the fire, that’s how much he hated it. That doesn’t stop it from being good, or any of the contents from being true, with or without whatever embellishment may have been added.
After reading your post I emailed my nephew, Michael, who lent me the audiobook about a year ago. He just this minute Replied. We indeed read the abridgment.
I got my “about 11 hours” (Post 8) from Amazon website, which was referring, I now see, to the unabridged version. It bothered me even as I was writing “11 hours” because I could have sworn it was a 6-CD set, and that I completed it on one long hike last winter. Also, I remembered Julian’s Foreword (according to Amazon) being an Afterword in my version.
I was unaware, or had forgotten, an abridgment exists. Thanks for the clarification, Thudlow. Good catch!