CYNTHIA POWELL

Cynthia Powell was born September 10, 1939 in Blackpool, England, where all the pregnant women had been sent to avoid being bombed. After the birth, the family moved back to Hoylake, where she lived a happy childhood with her parents, Charles and Lillian (Lil) and her two elder brothers, Charles and Tony.

 Cynthia was definitely a product of her environment, having a very posh English accent and dressed in clothes reminiscent of what Americans were wearing in the 50's. In other words, she was proper. According to Cynthia, her family was a "very placid, quiet people".

 Cynthia was always good in school, but her lack of self-confidence was always noted by her teachers. Her self-confidence and emotional stability took another hit when her father, Charles, died of cancer when she was 17, for, then, she thought she would never be able to go to college and thus never become an art teacher. She was the opposite of her mother, Lillian, who was very strong-willed and determined person and encouraged her to go to college. So, in the autumn of 1957 she swapped her white ankle socks for stockings, put on her smartest twinset and set off for college. However, when she pushed her way through the glass doors into the mass of students, they all fell about laughing when they heard her posh Hoylake accent. She soon learned to perfect the guttural twang of Liverpool.

 It was at college where she became vaguely aware of a disruptive student who wandered about the place with a gang of cronies named John Lennon. They were at different classes so for a while she avoided him.

 But in her second year she discovered John was in her class of lettering. After being kicked out of his painting class, it was John's last chance to stay in school and keep his aunt happy. The class was made up of girls mostly like Cynthia and John definitely stuck out. Cynthia's first reaction was that he frightened her to death, since he always had to be the centre of attention, making fun of someone, pulling faces or cracking jokes till the whole place was in stitches.

 However, one afternoon the lecturer was out of the room and the class, ever ready for a diversion, played "eye test" to scrutinise who had the sharpest vision. It soon became obvious that John and Cynthia were both desperately short-sighted but hated wearing their glasses. It was only a small thing but that afternoon they discovered they shared a problem and the atmosphere between them warmed up a few degrees. It became apparent that Powell liked Lennon, as she would send him chocolate biscuits and coffee to try to get his attention. He, on the contrary, would tease her unmercifully when she was around. He would say: "No more dirty jokes, please. It's Cynthia! Didn't you know Miss Powell was previously a nun?"

 So, much to her surprise and to everyone else's, Lennon asked her to dance at a school party but she refused saying she was engaged to someone else, which was untrue. His reply was: "I only asked you out, I didn't ask you to bloody marry me!" After that embarrassing moment for Powell, they went to a pub and began dating soon after.

 As Cynthia struggled with a ver difficult pregnancy, the Beatles were becoming more and more famous, therefore, John was not around a lot, and having made it up with Mimi, Cynthia had gone to live with her. But as luck may have it, it wasn't Mimi who helped Cynthia when she went into labour, but her best friend Phyllis, whom she had met at school. So, on April 6, 1963, Cynthia and Phyllis were shopping in Penny Lane when Cynthia suddenly went into labour and Phyllis had to accompany her to hospital. On April 8, 1963, John Charles Julian Lennon was born. Julian, as he was called, was immediately taken to intensive care, where he stayed for two days. Three days later John came to visit his new-born son and put Cyn in a private room, as John's excitement over his son was cut short by women looking into the window to watch John. There, John informed Cynthia he was going on holiday with Brian Epstein. She didn't argue, thinking she would have enough handling with the new-born baby.

 Cynthia Lennon made her first public appearance with the Beatles on their first tour to America. The Beatles' performance on The Ed Sullivan Show led the group to such huge success that John was unable to stay at home. The only time Cynthia Lennon did see her husband was on the rare occasions he was home, or on vacations with the other Beatles (Ireland, 1964, for example).

 After the Beatles' hectic touring ended in 1966, John returned to his home, Kenwood. He would stay in a backroom of the house, taking drugs, having people coming in, or reading and composing songs. He completely isolated himself from the outside world, the fame had begun to take its toll on him. Cynthia watched as her marriage came falling apart. There was nothing she could do to save the marriage, and one more thing made it worse, LSD.

Cynthia returned back to Kenwood some time later, still accompanied by Magic Alex and Jenny. The house was silent, but the door was unlocked, so Cynthia figured someone would be home. She called out, saying she returned. She walked into the sun-room of their house and in her own bathroom was Yoko Ono sitting next to John. Cynthia could only think of something mindless to say. Cynthia recalled: "I was absolutely shattered... I felt I had to get out of there immediately". So she left with Boyd and Magic Alex to a house in Central London that the couple had shared with some friends.

During that time, Cynthia needed someone to talk to, so she did so with Alex. Although she never trusted him, their wine consumption and Cynthia's loneliness led her to tell Alex all of her and John's problems during their marriage and the following day they woke up in the same bed. Three days later Cynthia phoned home to say she was returning. When she returned Yoko was gone and John said: I can't understand why you went off. What have you been up to?" Cynthia questioned what he was up to with Ono to which he claimed he had got fed up with the Japanese. Cynthia was not convinced. She knew something was indeed happening between the two of them and that Lennon had a hard time to facing up to it. The family holiday planned was continued. Cynthia did not want to disappoint Julian, who at this point, had no clue what was happening.

Cynthia, while in Italy, met up with Roberto Bassanini, the son of the owners of the hotel she was staying in. He helped Julian when the Italian surrounded him at the beach wanting to touch him and see him: "The Beatle bambino", they called him. They took to dining together and one night, when they returned to he hotel, Magic Alex was awaiting them. He informed her that Lennon would sue for divorce on the grounds of adultery with Bassanini, so he could marry Ono. With this agreement, Lennon would have full custody of Julian, while Cynthia would be sent back to Hoylake. Cynthia, Julian and Cynthia's mother, Lillian, were on the next plane to England to sort things out.

Another hardship in Cynthia's life came when John Lennon was shot in December 1980. John had handled the pressures of fame with drugs, and during that time he couldn't be concerned with Julian, but he realised that he needed to be a father. Whilst Julian and his father becoming closer before Lennon's murder, it was "like losing a father for a second time", Julian was quoted as saying.

With all the problems never resolving themselves due to Lennon's untimely death, Cynthia's relationship with her son became stronger. Julian helped his mother in return. After three failed marriages, Cynthia was still by herself. That was until Julian met a man named Jim Christie, who was teaching him to ride motorbikes. Cynthia became friendly with Jim because of his association with Julian, and by 1982 they were living together. Having a new man in her life Cynthia was also able to settle into a permanent home. According to Cynthia, after her divorce with Lennon, she moved "every three years", but has stayed in permanent residence for 12 years now.

Although she remained a quiet figure during the Beatlemania that was the 1960's, Cynthia Lennon has also been a point of conflict for many. She has sold her story, (1978's A Twist Of Lennon), has made appearances at Beatles celebrations, and has auctioned off her own personal items from her years with John. Cynthia supports that she must do this to make a living, she has no constant salary of sorts, despite the fact that son Julian won a lawsuit to have part of the John Lennon state. In her continued involvement with the Beatles, as well as maintaining a private profile, she reflected on her life in a 1996 interview: