36 Facts About Alfred Lennon

Alfred Lennon, known as Freddie Lennon, was an English seaman and singer who was best known as the father of musician John Lennon.

John was their only child, but, as Alfred Lennon was away at sea during World War II, he did not see his son much during infancy.

Alfred Lennon offered to look after his wife, their child, and the expected baby, but Julia rejected the idea.

Alfred Lennon had very little contact with his son until Beatlemania, when they met again, but later the pair had only intermittent contact with each other.

Alfred Lennon died in Brighton, England, where he had lived since marrying Pauline Jones, with whom he had two sons.

Daughter Edith Alfred Lennon was born that year and then Charles.

Alfred Lennon, was known as being happy-go-lucky, and "couldn't resist having a good time".

Alfred Lennon travelled with the troupe for a time before being discovered in Glasgow and returned to the orphanage, where he was severely punished.

Alfred Lennon was known as being always quick with a joke or a witty line, but never held a job for any length of time.

Alfred Lennon first saw Julia Stanley at the Trocadero club, a converted cinema on Camden Road, Liverpool.

Alfred Lennon, who was dressed in a bowler hat and holding a cigarette holder, saw "this little waif" sitting on a wrought-iron bench.

Alfred Lennon was a musician, and specialised in impersonating Louis Armstrong and Al Jolson.

Alfred Lennon played the banjo, as did Julia, although neither pursued music professionally.

Alfred Lennon kept in touch with Julia, writing letters and meeting whenever he docked in Liverpool.

On 3 December 1938,11 years after they had first met, Julia married Alfred Lennon after proposing to him.

Alfred Lennon later worked on ocean liners that travelled between the Greek islands, North Africa and the West Indies.

Alfred Lennon auditioned for local theatre managers as a 'ship's entertainer,' but had no success, and so returned to sea.

Alfred Lennon sent regular pay cheques to Julia, who lived with her son at 9 Newcastle Road.

Alfred Lennon occasionally returned to Liverpool, but did not stay long before being sent off on another ship.

Alfred Lennon later told his version of what happened while he was AWOL in 1943.

Alfred Lennon claimed that he had sailed from the United States to Bone, North Africa, but was arrested for stealing one bottle of beer from the ship.

Alfred Lennon consequently served nine days in a military prison.

Alfred Lennon eventually served on a troopship from North Africa to Italy before finally boarding a ship that was making its way to England in 1944.

Alfred Lennon blamed himself for this, as he had written to Julia urging her to go out and enjoy herself because there was a war on.

Julia and Dykins discovered this and followed them to Blackpool, and after a heated argument, Alfred Lennon made the five-year-old boy choose between Julia or him.

Alfred Lennon lost contact with the family until Beatlemania, when he and John met again.

Alfred Lennon had been drinking when, late at night, he saw a mannequin in a wedding dress shop window.

Alfred Lennon smashed the window, took the mannequin, and danced with it in the street until he was arrested.

In 1958, when Alfred was working with Charlie Lennon in the Barn Restaurant in Solihull, their brother Sydney sent a newspaper clipping from the Liverpool Echo reporting that Julia had died.

Alfred Lennon made no real attempt to contact John until the height of Beatlemania.

Alfred Lennon was working as a kitchen porter at the Greyhound Hotel at Hampton Court, in Middlesex, when someone pointed to a photograph of John Lennon in a newspaper asking whether he was related to him.

When Epstein was informed that Alfred was John Lennon's father, he "went into a panic," immediately sending a car to bring John to NEMS office.

Alfred Lennon was shabbily dressed, with his unkempt, thinning grey hair greased back.

John was annoyed when he arrived home, telling Cynthia about Alfred Lennon's visit to the NEMS office a few weeks earlier.

Late in his life, Alfred Lennon wrote a manuscript detailing his life story which he bequeathed to John.

On 1 April 1976, Alfred Lennon died in Brighton, at the age of 63, just nine days after Paul McCartney's father Jim McCartney died.