Another Lennon (1981)

 

Another Lennon (1981)

By John Howard

Sunday Mirror

April 5, 1981

    John Lennon is alive and well and living in North Wales, or at least as far as his son is concerned. It is now four months since ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment. But his son, Julian, 18, told me, "I believe that, apart from a life hereafter, people live on for as long as there are happy memories of them. I know that Dad's presence will be around for a long time. He was always joking, always sounded happy, which made me think more of him as a friend than a dad."

     I spoke to Julian after a photo session with his knock-around rock group, jokingly named the Lennon Drops, at his home in Ruthin, North Wales. Julian lives there with his mother, Cynthia, John Lennon's former wife.

     "My earliest memory of my father was when I was about three, and he sang 'Happy Birthday' to me," said Julian. "We were living in Weybridge, Surrey, and dad threw a birthday party for me and brought in a long cake shaped like a train and festooned with candles. He and mum both sang to me, and it was a great event."

     Just before John died, he spoke fondly of his son, saying that he was at the stage of discovering girls. I can second that. Julian's girlfriend, Sally Hudson, has a maturity beyond her 18 years. And Tanya Waters, the percussionist and straight lady of the zany Lennon Drops, is quite an eyeful, too.

     Another member, David Jones, is nicknamed "the Professor" because of his comic inventiveness. Derry Evans, vocalist and guitarist, was a child actor in the BBC TV police series "Z Cars", which was set in Liverpool, the cradle of the Beatles. Mike Johnson, occasional guitarist, doubles as road manager and bodyguard. 

    Julian can also play the guitar. "Dad started teaching me when I was a tiny tot," he said. "My voice is okay," he said, humbly.  "Last year, I made a tape of one of Dad's songs from his rock and roll album. I didn't think it sounded like me. Then I played it to mum and a few friends, and they said, 'You're right. It doesn't sound like you. It sounds like your father.' It excited me to think I could sound a bit like him."

 However, in his anxiety not to be seen as a carbon copy of his father, Julian took to the drums. John Lennon's second wife, Yoko Ono, arranged professional tuition for Julian in New York when he visited her after his father's death in December. But he will learn most from a famous drummer who has promised to pass on some tricks of his trade, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr. Ringo is closer to Julian than any of his other Beatle uncles. Starr's former wife, Maureen Starkey, is still, after all these years, Julian's mother's best friend. 

    Julian had planned a summer move to New York, where Yoko Ono is ready to help him break into the rock world in a big way. Then, as his mother Cynthia put it, "He decided to have a rest in the calm after the storm that followed his father's murder. He is taking things easy and not rushing ahead. He has to settle down. He wants to work out more precisely what he should do with his life, and I have to see how I can help him with that."