63 Facts About Cynthia Lennon

Powell and Cynthia Lennon started a relationship after meeting in a calligraphy class.

When Cynthia Lennon was performing in Hamburg with the Beatles, Powell rented his bedroom at 251 Menlove Avenue in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton from his aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith.

In 1968, Cynthia Lennon left her for Japanese artist Yoko Ono; as a result, the couple's divorce was legally granted in November 1968 on the grounds of adultery.

Cynthia Lennon published a book of memoirs, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, and a more intimate biography, John, in 2005.

Cynthia Lennon Powell was born in Blackpool on 10 September 1939, the youngest of three children of General Electric Company employee Charles Powell and his wife Lillian, who already had two sons named Charles and Anthony.

Cynthia Lennon's parents were from Liverpool, but her mother was sent to the safer area of Blackpool after World War II had been declared and lived in a small room in a bed-and-breakfast on the Blackpool seafront.

Cynthia Lennon never had any drawing tools with him, so he constantly borrowed pens and pencils from Powell, who discovered he was only there because other teachers had refused to instruct him.

Cynthia Lennon had an air of respectability and moved in different social circles than her future husband.

Powell once overheard Cynthia Lennon give a compliment to a girl with blonde hair in the college, who looked similar to the French actress Brigitte Bardot.

Cynthia Lennon was confused when he ignored her all evening, but eventually invited her into the group with a joke.

Cynthia Lennon was insecure and Cynthia was there to pump him up, to buttress, sort of, his weak side.

The Beatles' first Hamburg residency took place in 1960, with Cynthia Lennon writing frequent and passionate letters back home to Powell.

When Cynthia Lennon went to Hamburg again in April 1962, she found a bedsit in a terraced house at 93 Garmoyle Road, Liverpool.

Cynthia Lennon later explained that she and Lennon had never used contraception, had never talked about it, and did not think about it at the time.

When she told Cynthia Lennon he said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn, we'll have to get married".

Powell and Cynthia Lennon were married on 23 August 1962 at the Mount Pleasant register office in Liverpool.

The newlyweds had no honeymoon, as Cynthia Lennon had to play an engagement at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester the same night.

That one of the members was married and had a son was not publicly known at the time; a 1963 "Lifelines of the Beatles" page in the New Musical Express detailed over 25 biographical facts about each member of the group, but never gave any hint Cynthia Lennon was married, even reporting "girls" as one of his hobbies.

Cynthia Lennon told him two days after, and he was angry as he hadn't wanted his son to be christened, even though Epstein had asked to be Julian's godfather.

Brian Epstein told the other Beatles to make the best of the situation, and hoped newspapers would not say Cynthia Lennon was pregnant before marrying him.

Cynthia Lennon firstly had to carry Julian up to the flat, and then go back down to collect shopping bags.

Cynthia Lennon accompanied Lennon to the United States in the first Beatles' tour there, with Lennon allowing the press to photograph them together, which infuriated Epstein, as he had wanted to keep their marriage a secret.

At the Emperor's Gate address the situation grew worse, with fans sticking chewing gum in the lock of the flat and tearing at any article of clothing when she or Cynthia Lennon were leaving or arriving.

When Cynthia Lennon started filming How I Won the War in Almeria, Spain, he promised his wife and son they could join him there after two weeks of filming.

The Beatles' accountant told Epstein the group members should move to houses near his in Esher, so Cynthia Lennon bought a house called Kenwood in July 1964.

Cynthia Lennon took care of Julian herself, without a nanny, although babysitters were frequently employed.

Cynthia Lennon did the cooking herself, but employed a housekeeper, gardener, and chauffeur, who lived off the premises.

When she passed her driving test, Cynthia Lennon serially bought her a white Mini, a gold Porsche, a red Ferrari, and a green Volkswagen Beetle, usually as surprises without consulting her first.

Cynthia Lennon enjoyed the closeness of Pattie Boyd and Maureen Starkey, as both lived nearby, often going on holiday together or shopping.

Cynthia Lennon was often photographed at Beatles' movie premieres and special occasions, and sometimes with Lennon and Julian at home, which meant she had the role of a Beatle wife, as well as being a mother.

Kenwood became the place to visit for the other Beatles, various American musicians, and total strangers who Cynthia Lennon had met the previous night in London nightclubs.

Cynthia Lennon explained that he was Alfred Lennon, the father whom Lennon had supposedly not seen for years.

Cynthia Lennon was annoyed when he came home, telling her for the first time that his father had visited the NEMS office, Epstein's business, a few weeks before.

Three years after the meeting in the NEMS office, Alfred Cynthia Lennon turned up at Kenwood again with his fiancee, 19-year-old student Pauline Jones.

Cynthia Lennon asked if the Lennons could give Pauline a job, so she was hired to help with Julian and the piles of Beatles' fan mail.

Cynthia Lennon knew her husband took drugs like Preludin, and regularly smoked cannabis, but thought of them as not being very dangerous.

Cynthia Lennon then started taking LSD on a regular basis in addition to his daily use of cannabis.

In 1970, Cynthia Lennon confessed he had probably taken LSD one thousand times since 1965, saying: "I used to just eat it all the time".

Cynthia Lennon became somewhat uncommunicative towards most people, including Cynthia.

Cynthia Lennon denied he was involved with Ono, explaining that she was just some "crazy artist" who wanted to be sponsored, although Ono kept up a stream of telephone calls and visits to Kenwood.

The Lennons shared a four-poster bed at the ashram, with Lennon playing guitar and Cynthia drawing and writing poetry between their long sessions of meditation.

Every morning, Cynthia Lennon would walk to the local post office to see if he had received a telegram from Ono, who sent one almost daily.

Cynthia Lennon went on to detail his liaisons with groupies, friends and "thousands" of women around the globe.

Two weeks later, in May 1968, Lennon suggested Cynthia take a holiday in Greece with Mardas, Donovan, and two friends, as he would be very busy recording songs for what would become the White Album.

Cynthia Lennon arrived back at Kenwood from Greece earlier than expected, at 4 o'clock on 22 May 1968, to discover Lennon and Ono sitting cross-legged on the floor in matching white robes, staring into each other's eyes, and then found Ono's slippers outside the Lennons' bedroom door.

Lennon went to New York with McCartney shortly after, but as Cynthia was specifically not invited, a trip to Pesaro, in Italy, was arranged with her mother.

Cynthia Lennon lived for a few months in a flat Starr owned at 34 Montagu Square, central London, but returned to Kenwood as Lennon and Ono preferred to live there instead, rather than in isolated Weybridge.

Lennon and Cynthia had one last short meeting at Kenwood, where Lennon accused her of having an affair in India, saying she was no "innocent little flower".

On 31 July 1970, Cynthia married Bassanini, whom she had started dating after parting with Lennon; the couple divorced in 1973.

Cynthia Lennon enrolled her son into the Ruthin School and he later joined the local Combined Cadet Force.

On 1 May 1976, Cynthia Lennon married John Twist, a television engineer from Lancashire.

Cynthia Lennon published a memoir during their time together, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, telling about her life before and with Lennon and containing her own illustrations and poetry.

Cynthia Lennon tried to stop the publication of the book after an excerpt was published in a newspaper.

Cynthia Lennon began a relationship with Liverpudlian chauffeur Jim Christie in 1981, who became her partner for 17 years as well as her business manager, living in Penrith, Cumbria.

Cynthia Lennon had kept mementos of Lennon for years but began auctioning them off after his death.

Cynthia Lennon later complained that the film made her out "as a clingy, dim, little girlfriend in a headscarf".

Cynthia Lennon was portrayed in 2000 television film In His Life: The John Lennon Story by Gillian Kearney; the negative aspects of John's treatment of her were not overlooked.

Cynthia Lennon's life had a more central role in the 2010 BBC Four film Lennon Naked, with Claudie Blakley playing the part.

Cynthia Lennon's character was absent from the 2009 British film Nowhere Boy, which purported to cover the story of Lennon from 1955 to 1960 but focused on his relationships with his aunt and mother.

In 1995, Cynthia Lennon made her recording debut with a rendition of "Those Were the Days" which, produced by McCartney, had been a number one hit for Mary Hopkin in 1968.

Cynthia Lennon lived with her husband, Noel, on the Spanish island of Majorca until his death on 11 March 2013.

Cynthia Lennon died on 1 April 2015 at her home in Majorca, at the age of 75 following a brief bout with cancer, her son Julian by her side.

Cynthia Lennon was totally different from John in that she was quiet, reserved and calm.