John Lennon and his Father

just before the video begins Please Subscribe and like the videos to help the channel grow thanks for watching I'm your father speak he was a merchant Seaman you know you can imagine and it was 1940s in the war and all that [Music] Alfred Lennon known to his friends as Al for Fred was born on the 14th of December 1912. he spent most of his childhood brought up in an orphanage and as a child wore leg braces which led his growth to be stunted at five foot four when he first met John's mother Julia she told him the top hat he was wearing looks silly so he threw it into a nearby lake from that day he never wore a hat again John's Aunt Mimi didn't care for Fred Lennon she later said we knew he would be no use to anyone especially not our Julia Julia's parents shared the same thoughts and wouldn't allow him into their house Fred was abandoned by his father as a child he then abandoned John and John later abandoned his son Julian Julian never married and remains childless to this day his difficult relationship with his father has been cited as the reason Fred made no attempt to contact John until the height of beetlemania he was working as a kitchen Porter when someone showed him a newspaper with John on the front cover during the morning of the 1st of April 1964 Fred Lennon along with a journalist walked into the offices of nems Enterprises he told the receptionist he was John Lennon's father and Brian Epstein was contacted Brian panicked and a car was immediately sent to bring Jon to the offices on arrival his first words to his father were what do you want I spoke for 20 minutes before John threw him out the offices the encounter was kept out of the newspapers in exchange for exclusive stories given to journalists but despite this Fred sold his story to newspapers then in senior told the newspapers he'd never heard of The Beatles until around the height of beetle Mania the Greyhound hotel in Hampton South London where he worked as a kitchen Porter was not far from John's home and a few weeks later Fred knocked the door at Kenwood Cynthia opened the door to in her words what looked like a [ __ ] but alarmingly with John's face John wasn't home and Cynthia gave him cheese on toast and tea as he waited Cynthia then offered to cut Fred's long stringy locks of hair which he allowed her to do after waiting two hours with no sign of John Fred left when John came home Cynthia told him about the events of the day which aggravated John he told Cynthia for the first time about Fred's visit to nem's offices weeks previous after he'd calmed down John changed his mind and contacted Fred telling Cynthia all right sin he's a bit wacky like me in the following months Fred released a single called that's my life my love and my home on release the song was commercially successful John contacted Brian Epstein and told him to do anything he could to stop the recording becoming a hit it quickly disappeared from the charts and Fred suspected John was the cause Fred had written the song with Tony Cartwright and the pair drove to Kenwood to confront John about their suspicions John slammed the door in their face and for now Fred drifted back to obscurity two years later in 1967 Fred now 56 years old turned up at Kenwood once again this time he was with his 20 year old fiance Pauline Jones greeted the couple warmly perhaps the letter John received from Fred's brother was the catalyst in it Charlie Lennon had claimed Julia was the person John should be angry with not Fred with claims of infidelity Fred asked John if he could give Pauline a job so she was hired to help looking after John's son Julian and managing the piles of fan mail for a brief period She lived in the attic at Kenwood she later said of the time living with John my impression of living with John was that he was totally withdrawn into himself when living at home unsmiling cold and unapproachable his thoughts and feelings appeared tightly guarded John provided Fred with an apartment and he was put on The Beatles payroll each month he was paid 12 pounds that's the equivalent of 2 300 pounds in 2023 he later bought the couple a house in Brighton for 6 500 pounds and didn't see much of his father for the next three years when Jon turned 30 he invited his father to titanhurst park the home he'd moved into after Kenwood at this time John had been doing Primal therapy a Psychotherapy used to re-experience Childhood trauma in an attempt to resolve the pain Fred arrived with Pauline at John's home and from the get-go had an eerie feeling the property to him seemed more like a mausoleum than a home he reportedly said to Pauline this place positively reeks of evil at that moment John appeared with Yoko descending the circling staircase his pupils dilated he looked like a man possessed start worrying go on start worrying John began before screaming at Fred was shocked by both John's appearance and his actions Pauline burst into tears she attempted to defend Fred in between sobs but this only infuriated John Moore John shouted mind your own business you stupid cow and then slammed his fists down onto the table the whole time Yoko sat Stone Face staring at the couple Fred tried to calm the situation and admitted he was partly to blame for what had happened to John went into another rage and began rambling nonsensically comparing himself to Jimi Hendrix Janice Joplin and Jim Morrison all of whom had recently died the whole time John was screaming with such Force the couple were terrified he began ranting about his mother and his aunt Mimi Fred later wrote I sat through all this completely stunned Fred claimed John told him if he were to speak to the Press again he would have him shot and have his body dumped at sea it was the only point in the rants Jon didn't look insane with rage the idea of killing Fred filled him with Glee the couple fled tittenhurst Park in fear a week later they were contacted by Apple corpse and told they must vacate their home in Brighton John and Fred would never see each other face to face again the next contact they would have would be on Fred's Deathbed light in his life Fred wrote a manuscript detailing his life story which he bequeathed to John it was his attempt to fill in the Lost Years where he had not been in contact with his son and to explain that it was Julia not Fred who had broken up their marriage John later commented you know all he wanted was for me to hear his side of the story which I hadn't heard by 1976 Fred was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer Pauline contacted John via Apple corpse to make sure that he knew that his father was dying John sent a large bouquet of flowers to the hospital and phoned Alf on his deathbed apologizing for his past Behavior in 1990 Pauline published a book called Daddy come home detailing her life with Fred and his meetings with John the only thing remaining today of Fred Lennon is the single he released ironically in the song the lyrics read it started in Liverpool where I was born no father to advise me but I carried on

Channel: Film Retrospective

Views: 32,174

Keywords: john lennon, the beatles, julian lennon, fred lennon, john lennon's dad, john lennon father, alf lennon, charlie lennon

Id: OHuFwuN2b2Y

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 08 2023