was showing me how to pick up girls. I’d bought myself a cigarette holder and a bowler hat. I felt that really would impress them.
‘There was this little girl we had our eye on. As I walked past her, she said, “You look silly.” I said, “You look lovely,” and I sat down beside her. It was all innocent. I didn’t know anything.
‘She said if I was going to sit beside her, I had to take that silly hat off. So I did. I threw it in the lake. I haven’t worn a hat from that day to this.’
Fred and Julia went out together, during Fred’s spells ashore, for about ten years. He says her mother ‘loved the bones of his body’ but that her father didn’t care for him very much. But he had taught Julia to play the banjo.
‘Me and Julia used to play and sing together. We’d have been the tops today. One day she said to me, “Let’s go and get married.” I said we had to put the banns up and do it properly. She said, “I bet you won’t.” So I did, just for a joke. It was all a big laugh, getting married.’
The Stanley family didn’t think it much of a laugh. ‘We knew that Julia was going out with Alfred Lennon,’ says Mimi, one of Julia’s four sisters. ‘He was quite good looking, I’ll admit. But we knew he would be no use to anyone, certainly not Julia.’
The marriage had taken place at Mount Pleasant Register Office on 3 December 1938. No parents were present. Fred turned up first, outside the Adelphi Hotel, at ten in the morning. There was no sign of Julia so he went off and tried to borrow a pound from his brother. When he got back, Julia still hadn’t turned up so he rang the Trocadero cinema. Julia spent a lot of time at the Trocadero, as she’d always been stage-struck. She never actually worked there, though she put ‘cinema usherette’ on her marriage certificate, as a joke. ‘I spoke to one of her mates at the Troc,’ says Fred. ‘They all loved me at the Troc. They used to say to me, “If you ever fall out of love with Julia, I’ll be waiting.”’
Julia did turn up and they spent their honeymoon at the cinema. Afterwards, Julia went back to her home and Fred wentback to his. The next day Fred got on a ship and went off to the West Indies for three months.
Julia stayed at home with her parents, which was where Fred also lived on his trips back home over the next year. After one trip, Julia found that she was pregnant. It was the summer of 1940. Liverpool was under heavy bombing. No one knew where Fred Lennon was.
Julia was admitted to the Maternity Hospital in Oxford Street to have her baby. He was born during a heavy air raid on 9 October 1940, at 6.30 in the evening and he was called John Winston Lennon. Winston was the result of a momentary fit of patriotism. Mimi, who saw the baby 20 minutes after he was born, chose the name John.
‘The minute I saw John,’ says Mimi, ‘that was it. I was lost for ever. A boy! I couldn’t get over it. I went on and on about him, almost forgetting Julia. She said, “All I’ve done is have him.”’
When John was 18 months old, Julia went down to the shipping office one day to pick up her money from Fred, which somehow had been coming through. She was told the money had stopped. ‘Alfred had deserted ship,’ says Mimi. ‘No one knew what had happened to him.’ He did reappear, but Mimi says that was really the end of the marriage, though they didn’t separate until a year or so later.
‘Julia eventually met another man who she wanted to marry,’ says Mimi. ‘It would have been difficult to take John along as well, so I took John. I wanted him, of course, but it did seem the best thing to do. All he needed was a firm anchor and a happy home life. He already looked upon my house as a second home anyway. Both Julia and Fred wanted me to adopt him. I’ve got letters from them saying so. But I could never get them both down to the office together to sign the forms.’
Fred Lennon’s version of his ‘desertion’ and
‘There was this little girl we had our eye on. As I walked past her, she said, “You look silly.” I said, “You look lovely,” and I sat down beside her. It was all innocent. I didn’t know anything.
‘She said if I was going to sit beside her, I had to take that silly hat off. So I did. I threw it in the lake. I haven’t worn a hat from that day to this.’
Fred and Julia went out together, during Fred’s spells ashore, for about ten years. He says her mother ‘loved the bones of his body’ but that her father didn’t care for him very much. But he had taught Julia to play the banjo.
‘Me and Julia used to play and sing together. We’d have been the tops today. One day she said to me, “Let’s go and get married.” I said we had to put the banns up and do it properly. She said, “I bet you won’t.” So I did, just for a joke. It was all a big laugh, getting married.’
The Stanley family didn’t think it much of a laugh. ‘We knew that Julia was going out with Alfred Lennon,’ says Mimi, one of Julia’s four sisters. ‘He was quite good looking, I’ll admit. But we knew he would be no use to anyone, certainly not Julia.’
The marriage had taken place at Mount Pleasant Register Office on 3 December 1938. No parents were present. Fred turned up first, outside the Adelphi Hotel, at ten in the morning. There was no sign of Julia so he went off and tried to borrow a pound from his brother. When he got back, Julia still hadn’t turned up so he rang the Trocadero cinema. Julia spent a lot of time at the Trocadero, as she’d always been stage-struck. She never actually worked there, though she put ‘cinema usherette’ on her marriage certificate, as a joke. ‘I spoke to one of her mates at the Troc,’ says Fred. ‘They all loved me at the Troc. They used to say to me, “If you ever fall out of love with Julia, I’ll be waiting.”’
Julia did turn up and they spent their honeymoon at the cinema. Afterwards, Julia went back to her home and Fred wentback to his. The next day Fred got on a ship and went off to the West Indies for three months.
Julia stayed at home with her parents, which was where Fred also lived on his trips back home over the next year. After one trip, Julia found that she was pregnant. It was the summer of 1940. Liverpool was under heavy bombing. No one knew where Fred Lennon was.
Julia was admitted to the Maternity Hospital in Oxford Street to have her baby. He was born during a heavy air raid on 9 October 1940, at 6.30 in the evening and he was called John Winston Lennon. Winston was the result of a momentary fit of patriotism. Mimi, who saw the baby 20 minutes after he was born, chose the name John.
‘The minute I saw John,’ says Mimi, ‘that was it. I was lost for ever. A boy! I couldn’t get over it. I went on and on about him, almost forgetting Julia. She said, “All I’ve done is have him.”’
When John was 18 months old, Julia went down to the shipping office one day to pick up her money from Fred, which somehow had been coming through. She was told the money had stopped. ‘Alfred had deserted ship,’ says Mimi. ‘No one knew what had happened to him.’ He did reappear, but Mimi says that was really the end of the marriage, though they didn’t separate until a year or so later.
‘Julia eventually met another man who she wanted to marry,’ says Mimi. ‘It would have been difficult to take John along as well, so I took John. I wanted him, of course, but it did seem the best thing to do. All he needed was a firm anchor and a happy home life. He already looked upon my house as a second home anyway. Both Julia and Fred wanted me to adopt him. I’ve got letters from them saying so. But I could never get them both down to the office together to sign the forms.’
Fred Lennon’s version of his ‘desertion’ and
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