Lennon House Open to Public
MC
March 28, 2003
Beat goes on in Lennon's childhood home
By Russell Jenkins
The semi in which a budding Beatle strummed his early chords is now a
museum
THE rebellious spirit of John Lennon lives on in Mendips, his childhood
home, despite the pomp and ceremony of its official launch yesterday as
a National Trust museum.
Yoko Ono said that if the late Beatle had ever thought that 251 Menlove
Avenue, Woolton, Liverpool, the unremarkable 1930s semi where he grew up
with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, would become a cultural icon, he
would have been vastly amused.
She told an audience of invited guests: łI think that if he is looking
down on us now then I am sure he is having a great laugh.˛ Ono said that
Lennon would often talk of Mendips during their life together.
The National Trust will open Mendips to the public from tomorrow as part
of a wider coach tour that includes Paul McCartneyąs terrace house in
Forthlin Road. Visitors will for the first time be able to see inside
the house where Lennon came to live as a five-year-old boy and left 18
years later as a mature rocker.
It was the suburban environment in which the young Lennon nurtured his
early creativity and where he wrote his first songs and, with his friend
Paul McCartney, developed his guitar style from skiffle to rock.
The house was bought by Yoko Ono last year in a private purchase and was
immediately donated to the National Trust to administer in Lennonąs
memory.
The blue plaque on the front wall is the only feature distinguishing the
house from dozens of others along the busy dual carriageway into
Liverpool city centre. It says simply: łJohn Lennon 1940-1980, Musician
and Songwriter lived here 1945-1963.˛
Once inside, the difference becomes stark. The house, built in 1933, has
been restored and taken back to a period in the late 1950s, early 1960s,
where the Goons play continually on the wireless, light fixtures are
solid Bakelite, the picture on the Ferguson TV is fuzzy and plates are
cleaned with Rinso washing powder.
It is forever suburban England caught between Tin Pan Alley and the
Beatles revolution. Matthew Whitfield, 22, the custodian, said that as
far as possible the spirit and ambience of the period has been captured,
with fixtures and furnishings bought from antique shops.
Its creators took advice from surviving members of Lennonąs family and
pored over old black and white photographs to achieve some kind of
authenticity. Some artefacts, however, have been restored to their
rightful place. Aunt Mimiąs Chinese Chippendale display cabinet and
writing bureau have been returned to the lounge.
The distinguished wall clock manufactured by George Toogood on the
morning room wall is an exact replica of the clock bequeathed by Uncle
George to Lennon and which he proudly displayed on the wall in his New
York apartment. In the same room there is a school photograph showing
Lennon, aged 16, showing off his quiff alongside fellow pupils at Quarry
Bank School, Calderstones, in May 1957, two months before he met
McCartney.
A programme for the village fęte where Paul first saw Lennon playing as
one of the Quarrymen is framed in the dining room, alongside an
exhibition of photographs of his early days with the skiffle group and
later with the Beatles on stage in Hamburg.
Visitors will be ushered through the back door into the sparse kitchen,
where Aunt Mimi used to cook Lennonąs favourite meal of egg and chips,
and on into a neat-as-a-pin suburban house.
They may stop for some moments before a framed certificate given to
Lennon for successfully swimming 250 yards, but it is not until they
climb the stairs and enter the tiny front bedroom ‹ Lennonąs room ‹ that
they come into the presence of the artist as a young man.
As a young boy Lennon would be sent off to bed with his panda bear under
one arm and his teddy under the other. Mimi recalled how she used to
sing him to sleep. His bedroom was a fantasy world where he spent hours
drawing with his pencils and crayons.
The tiny room later became a turmoil of clothes, records and book and
out of bounds to Mimi. łLeave it, Iąll tidy it up,˛ he would tell her
but, of course, he never did. A poster of Brigitte Bardot starring in
Love is my Profession decorates the wall, together with pictures of
Elvis Presley from Picturegoer magazine. Old 45 rpm singles are strewn
about, including Lonnie Doneganąs Rock Island Line.
Ono said: łJohn used to formulate his songs in his bedroom. He told me
that when he was writing his diary, sometimes Mimi used to look into it,
and he found out about that, so he started to write in gobbledegook . .
. and so even before the surrealism appeared in his songs, it was
there.˛
Visitors leave through the porch, which has it own significant place in
Beatles history. Lennon would be banished there to practise for hours on
the guitar his aunt had bought him for Ł17 from Hessyąs music store in
Liverpool. He found the hard surfaces of the bare walls generated just
the right łboomy bathroom acoustic˛ they wanted for their sound.
Fiona Reynolds, the National Trust director general, said that Mendips
represented not only the home of a icon of the 20th century but also a
fine example of its once maligned genre.
However, neighbours complain that the pebbledashed semi has long been a
shrine for hardcore Beatles fans and fear that it will now get worse.
Dave Bethell, 55, a near neighbour, said: łI would rather it stayed an
ordinary house and they let the past go.˛
The tours, from March 29 to October 26, will cost Ł10 (Ł5 to National
Trust members).
John's long and winding road
* John Winston Lennon was born in Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in
Liverpool on October 9, 1940.
* He spent the first five years of his life at 9 Newcastle Road but
after his parents split up he moved to Mendips to live with his Aunt
Mimi and Uncle George Smith.
* In the same year he started at Dovedale Road Junior School. George
Harrison was also there between 1948 and 1950 but because of the
three-year age gap they never met.
* John moved to Quarry Bank Grammar School, Harthill Road in 1952. He
later named his first band the Quarrymen.
* John and Paul McCartney were introduced in July 1957 when Paul saw
The Quarrymen play at the St Peterąs Church summer fęte, in Church Road,
Liverpool, Johnąs local church. When Paul made his debut with The
Quarrymen a few months later it was at the St Peterąs youth club dance.
* George Harrison joined the band a year later, followed by bass player
Stuart Sutcliffe, whom John met at Liverpool College of Art.
* In 1960, along with drummer Pete Best, the band secured a residency
in Hamburgąs red-light district playing under a new name ‹ the Beatles.