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John Lennon: Early years
John Winston Lennon was born on the evening of 9 October, 1940 during the height of Germany's Blitz on Britain. Both of his parents had musical background and experience, though neither pursued it seriously. Lennon lived with his parents in Liverpool until his father Fred Lennon, a merchant seaman, walked out on the family. His mother, Julia, then decided that she was unable to care for John and so gave him to her sister, Mimi.
Around adolescence, Lennon developed severe myopia and was obliged to wear glasses in order to see clearly. During his early Beatle career, Lennon wore contacts or prescription sunglasses, but later donned his trademark, round "granny-glasses" in late 1966. Although John lived apart from his mother he still kept in contact with her through regular visits, and during this time Julia was responsible for introducing her son to a lifelong interest in music by teaching him how to play the banjo. Soon after his 16th birthday, his mother was killed after she was struck by a car driven by a drunken off-duty police officer. This event influenced many of his later songs, and was also one of the factors that cemented his friendship with
Paul McCartney, who had lost his own mother to breast cancer at the age of 14. Later, in 1968, Lennon wrote a song entitled "Julia" in honour of his mother.
His Aunt Mimi was able to get him accepted into the Liverpool College of Art by showing them some of his drawings, and it was there that he met his future wife, Cynthia Powell. However, John steadily grew to hate the conformity of art school and, like many young men of his age, became increasingly interested in Rock 'n' Roll music and American singers like
Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Eventually, in the late 1950s, Lennon formed his own skiffle group called The Quarry Men, which later became The Silver Beetles (a tribute to Buddy Holly's Crickets) and soon afterwards was shortened to The Beatles.
He married Cynthia in 1962 after she became pregnant with his child, Julian.
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Role in the Beatles >>
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LiteratureYoko Ono: Celebrate John Lennon's Birthday Today with Peace.
Happy birthday, Mr. Lennon. Yoko Ono sends the Boing Boing community a video (link updated), embedded above, and explains a project launching this week in honor of John Lennon's birthday, the "Imagine Peace Tower" in Iceland -- a country that could use a little extra compassion this week, for sure, given the harsh effects of the economic collapse there. More on the project: On 9 Oct 2008, John Lennon?s birthday, Yoko Ono asks the people of Iceland to join her and many others across the rest of the world in praying for peace and stability. At 8pm, as IMAGINE PEACE TOWER is illuminated on the island of Viğey, she asks everyone to join together and let the power of light and prayer become a collective expression of the desire for peace and harmony on our planet. And Ms. Ono herself says, to all Boingdom: Dear Friends Please join me not only in remembering John on October 9th but also in spreading the message of peace. This is something that was so important to John - the fact that we could all work together for the positive good of our planet. He would have loved how we are all mobilizing ourselves in thought and in action. It's time for action and the action is peace! with love, yoko Yoko Ono 9 Oct 2008 More info, and how to participate: IMAGINEPEACE.COM. Below: Ms. Ono also reminds us today of John's belief that War Is Over If You Want It. UPDATE 12pm PT: Simon, who works with Ms. Ono, says: "We'll have a webcam up shortly to show the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER lighting up live at 8pm Reykjavik time (1pm LA, 4pm NY, 9pm Liverpool, 5am Tokyo)."...
Published: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:20:19 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the articleEuropeMick Jagger and John Lennon 'were just capitalists who wanted to get rich'
Rock and roll legends cashed in on the Swinging Sixties says historian.
Published: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:51:52 GMT - Source: Telegraph.Co.Uk - Read the articleEntertainmentTaylor-Wood 'to make Lennon film'
Photographer and video artist Sam Taylor-Wood signs up to direct a movie about the life of former Beatle John Lennon.
Published: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:02:50 GMT - Source: News.Bbc.Co.Uk - Read the article
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