John Lennons Parents - The Impact of Aunt Mimi and Uncle George

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Күн бұрын

It was John Lennon's father, Alf, who was out of his life from the age of 5. Although John Lennon wrote "Working Class Hero", was that true about him? David Bedford and Professor Paul Farley examine the relationship between John Lennon and his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George.
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Recorded in 2017 for possible inclusion in "Looking for Lennon", this discussion didn't make the final film, but it discusses the importance of John's relationships with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George.
How important was John's relationship with both parental figures in his life? The impact of Aunt Mimi and Uncle George. How did this affect John Lennon, The Beatle? Aunt Mimi, the strict disciplinarian: Uncle George, the paternal father-figure he needed so much.
How did his upbringing in Woolton, a wealthy middle-class suburb in Liverpool, have an effect on Lennon?
Brightmoon Liverpool is part of Brightmoon Media, an award-winning media production and broadcast company based in Liverpool, UK. Our recent works include the John Lennon feature documentary 'Looking for Lennon', as well as a number of specialist educational films for some of the UK's top universities.
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Пікірлер: 61

@BeliaLastes 2 жыл бұрын

Mother you had me, but I never had youuu,.. RIP Julia ,Aunt Mimi, Uncle George and John ❤️🌹🙏🕊️

@CupidStunt72 Жыл бұрын

I was in Liverpool in August & went to visit John's mum's grave, quite the experience. Julia's grave is very close to John Dykins grave. Defo worth the trip !

@BrightmoonLiverpool Жыл бұрын

It is in a beautiful spot isn't it?

@CupidStunt72 Жыл бұрын

My Dad & I count believe the size of the place, it is huge. Yes, that spot right at the end is a lovely place. We stood there wondering how many times Lennon had been in the same spot

@BrightmoonLiverpool Жыл бұрын

@@CupidStunt72 He never recovered from losing his mum, and no surprise. She had such an influence on his life.

@CupidStunt72 Жыл бұрын

@@BrightmoonLiverpool yes, he was never the same after Julia died. It's a she she never got to see the success John had.

@chequeando100 Жыл бұрын

El análisis de la foto de John con sus tíos Mimi y George es muy emocionante. Gracias David por esa entrevista a Paul.

@polytheneprentiss1534 2 жыл бұрын

Great historical perspective & insight, thanks! Def going to visit George & Mimi’s grave someday. 🥺

@joanmatchett8100 6 ай бұрын

Mimi was cremated in Poole in Dorset were she lived .

@agarfan 2 жыл бұрын

Fantastic! I love stories of Beatles parents and family!

@MrAschiff Жыл бұрын

Eight Days A Week is not a Ringoism. Paul got the idea from one of his drivers who said, after Paul asked how he was doing, working eight days a week.

@seanhallahan14 8 ай бұрын

Excellent conversation! Thank you. Sean

@BrightmoonLiverpool 8 ай бұрын

Our pleasure!

@paulclinton5900 2 жыл бұрын

Brilliant job. Nice bright day. Great interview and insights, keep these coming...!

@ADAMSIXTIES Жыл бұрын

Great discussion! But Ringo was the only one who was really working class. The others were pretty much middle class; John being a little higher up on the economic latter.

@BrightmoonLiverpool Жыл бұрын

George and Paul were both working class too, especially where they were born. Paul's mum moved them to Forthlin Road when Paul was about 13, which was a step up to a lower-middle-class area. George's family were always working-class. John, as you say, was definitely brought up middle-class, yet wrote Working Class Hero. A sense of humour!!!

@ADAMSIXTIES Жыл бұрын

The lyrics of WCH are so contradictory. I wonder if it was intentional.

@BrightmoonLiverpool Жыл бұрын

@S. Adam Bernstein If you look at the lyrics, John never claims to be a WCH, but it is something to be. In one interview he claimed to be Upper Working Class. That was stretching it! Woolton was and is middle-class!

@Steve-Richter 5 ай бұрын

Big question is what becomes of George and even Paul if they never met John.

@ohmeowzer1 2 жыл бұрын

I,loved this ty

@allenf.5907 2 жыл бұрын

More perspective explaining who he was as a young man coming through the losses. And soon to be the finds: the other Beatles.

@garypeach8945 2 жыл бұрын

Dave where's your beard!!?? Great video again BTW. 😀

@Liddypool 2 жыл бұрын

That was filmed back in 2017!

@michaeldonaghey 2 жыл бұрын

251 Menlove Ave was modest compared to Stuart's and Pete's homes.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 2 жыл бұрын

+michael donaghey The Best house dwarfed even Brian Epstein's house! It is huge.

@michaeldonaghey 2 жыл бұрын

@@BrightmoonLiverpool Stuart's house dwarfed them all, it's now Sefton Park Hotel. I don't know Brian's address.

@NurseKathyAndTheLaw Жыл бұрын

Aunt Mimi and Uncle George had no children. I read a long time ago about Aunt Mimi living in an assisted type living home at the end of her life . Where it was discovered by her medical,caregivers that she was indeed a virgin still. Might explain some of her emotional make up, her lack of warmth. Her seeming inability to form close, caring relationships. By all accounts she was angry at Julia because of her “improper relationships “ with men. I’ve also read it was Mimi that pushed for John to be taken from Julia. Aunt Mimi was a complex woman indeed. I believe she did care for John in her way. Without her influence there may have been no Beatles as such. Musicians are artists that depend on , unfortunately, the negatives from their lives to influence their creative selves.

@BrightmoonLiverpool Жыл бұрын

It was a strange relationship between John and Mimi. They loved each other, no doubt. Mimi wasn't maternal or affectionate. However, she didn't have John removed from Julia, as that was Pop Stanley - Mimi and Julia's father. He insisted that Mimi take John to live with her and George. Mimi gave everything up to care for John and gave him the stability he needed. It was from his base at Mendips that John met Ivan, Pete and Nigel, then Rod, Eric and Colin and then formed the Quarrymen. Everything happens for a reason.

@strawberryfields1149 Жыл бұрын

Where it was discovered by her medical,caregivers that she was indeed a virgin still. ...... yeah right, thats clearly fact then.

@Garry_jad 2 жыл бұрын

…..and it was nothing to do with its title of Paul and John meeting.

@samuelburleigh1895 3 ай бұрын

Could easily be Victorian times. Luckily this was very much a cusp of changing society.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 3 ай бұрын

Mimi's dad was the last of the Victorian parents, so he influenced his daughters very much.

@ohmeowzer1 2 жыл бұрын

Isn’t it interesting how fate brought them together?

@BrightmoonLiverpool 2 жыл бұрын

+B G Definitely is. So many coincidences in the story

@zapdunga12 5 ай бұрын

Obviously it was uncle George that took the photo of John and Mimi and Mimi who took the photo of John and George😊

@BrightmoonLiverpool 5 ай бұрын

Yes. Isn't the body language interesting?

@jamesmilton8765 2 жыл бұрын

In 1960 teenage guys all wore suits when they went out for the night, bumfreezer jackets and winkle picker shoes. Hoodies were unknown.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 2 жыл бұрын

+James Milton Quite the fashion statement!

@Silly.Old.Sisyphus 8 ай бұрын

speak for yourself! That's what Teddy Boys wore, the street thugs of the day. Yeah, John was a bit of a Teddy Boy for a while, but it didn't last long. As for hoodies, they didn't come in until decades later, when security cameras became ubiquitous.

@nigefal 2 жыл бұрын

That beard grew quick!

@BrightmoonLiverpool 2 жыл бұрын

This film was shot back in 2017 for our "Looking for Lennon" documentary which came out in 2018. The beard grew in lockdown! Had to do something!! 😄

@bucksdiaryfan 5 ай бұрын

If Paul would not have gone to the Church picnic (or whatever its called in England), what is the likelihood the two of them would have eventually come across each other after that? Or was that a chance meeting that was unlikely to occur at a different venue?

@BrightmoonLiverpool 5 ай бұрын

Paul had seen John at the bus stop near him, and was very wary of him. They went to different schools, had different groups of friends and lived in different suburbs. Without a common friend in Ivan, it is highly unlikely they would have met. So we all owe Ivan a huge thank you!

@bucksdiaryfan 5 ай бұрын

I find it quite touching that his Aunt Mimi was willing to raise him when his mom was a miscreant and his father was a vagabond and a n'er-do-well. She must have known she would have her hands full when he came of age.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 5 ай бұрын

If that was true, I would agree, but sadly, it isn't. Alf was on Merchant ships dodging U-boats in the Atlantic, before John rejected him. Mimi never volunteered to take John either. John was taken away by social services on the instruction of Julia's father, who then told Mimi that as she had no children, she was taking John to live with her. She didn't like children, which is why she had none. Although reluctant, and to be fair to Mimi and George, they gave up everything to look after John. Julia was distraught and depressed and desperately wanted John, but a court order made Mimi and George John's guardians. Not quite the story Mimi told, but that is the facts. Not saying Alf and Julia were perfect parents, because they weren't, but the truth has been muddied over the years. This all came out when I was the historian for Looking for Lennon, working with those who knew John best, including his family.

@cynthiapopov229 2 жыл бұрын

Dale and i cindy cynthia dont have family in tucson not related to a patty.

@Steve-Richter 5 ай бұрын

The sad thing about the Beatles is tension and I guess competitiveness between the three. John rarely says good things about Paul’s inventiveness. And both John and Paul seemed dismissive of George as a songwriter.

@cynthiapopov229 2 жыл бұрын

They keep lying in tucson..no family members of ours.

@bucksdiaryfan 5 ай бұрын

I love the irony that the Beatles cut their teeth in Germany but when they were babies the Germans were trying to kill them with bombs.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 5 ай бұрын

It was a huge part of their childhood, and Hamburg was the most devastated German city, having a third of it wiped out and 40,000 killed. And then the Brits invaded with music. A strange twist in the story.

@NurseKathyAndTheLaw Жыл бұрын

John didn’t have the Liverpool accent because Aunt Mimi hated/despised the Liverpool accent Mimi didn’t have it. I’m sure Uncle George didn’t either. Without a doubt she raised John to speak differently.

@BrightmoonLiverpool Жыл бұрын

They didn't have the Liverpool accent as Woolton was still isolated from the rest of the city and had a more Lancastrian accent. The other Quarrymen from Woolton don't have a strong Liverpool accent either.

@strawberryfields1149 Жыл бұрын

when you listen to Mimi in the 81 interview she had a Liverpool accent. suppressed a little but unmistakeable. Paul's accent changed in 1967 along with his ears, eyes, nose and hair. he also started wearing his belt the other way around!

@Silly.Old.Sisyphus 8 ай бұрын

i don't buy the apocryphal story of "rattle your --ing jewelry" for the simple reason that John was a poet, with a poet's sense of meter, and stuffing an extra two syllables in the middle would spoil the rhythm of the stanza and ruin its punch. So, no, he wouldn't even have considered it.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 8 ай бұрын

But if you knew Lennon the rebel, it was a possibility. But I doubt he ever was going to say it, just a good wind up before the show.

@Silly.Old.Sisyphus 8 ай бұрын

@@BrightmoonLiverpool he did say "rattle your jewelry" - i heard him say it, live on tv - and it got a good laugh. It's the storyteller's addition of an i don't buy. That wasn't his style.

@ohmeowzer1 2 жыл бұрын

Is George and Mimi buried in the same cemetery as Eleanor Rigby ?

@BrightmoonLiverpool 2 жыл бұрын

+B G No, Mimi was buried down south near Poole where she lived in the house John bought for her. George is in his family's grave at St Peter's

@helmutsecke3529 Жыл бұрын

'Are'

@Garry_jad 2 жыл бұрын

That’s 14 minutes of my life I won’t get back. How much rubbish were these 2 chatting. Some things were right the rest came accross as speculation when in fact it’s all there to read and find out what happens.

@BrightmoonLiverpool 2 жыл бұрын

Sorry you didn't enjoy it.