John
Lennon's first childhood home - 9, Newcastle Street, Wavertree, Liverpool
Here I am at 9 Newcastle Street
in Liverpool which was John’s first real home. Recently it sold at auction for
£450,000 - three times its normal price due to the Beatles provenance. John was
conceived in the kitchen and lived in this solid terraced abode for about five
years.
John’s parents Alf (26) and Julia (24) married secretly
just before World War Two. Marriages in Britain were rife as the national mood
was high - Neville Chamberlain had returned from Munich waving the piece of
paper that “guaranteed” peace with Hitler’s Germany. They soon rented number
nine, a bay-windowed terrace which is a short walk from Penny Lane. Second
World War erupted and Alf - a merchant seaman - went away on the SS Duchess of
York. Perhaps John wouldn’t have been born had his dad not returned for
Christmas 1939. He did though and sometime in January 1940 he and his new wife Julia
had sex on the kitchen floor. A baby wasn’t planned nor did they intend to have
any children.
When John was born in Liverpool’s main maternity
hospital on 9th October 1940 Liverpool was scary city due to a
ferocious German night attack. Outside air-raid sirens wailed everywhere and all
public transport had come to a standstill. John’s dad was away on a ship and
missed the birth but Julia’s sister Mimi was so excited she ran the two miles
to the hospital, oblivious to bomber aircraft and bombs dropped by parachute.
Two days before the birth bombs exploded in the city centre, Wavertree, Everton
Valley, Knotty Ash and Mossley Hill. Julia and her new baby could easily have
been bombed as within two days of the birth Liverpool received two more raids
on the city and docks. Houses, train sheds, railway tracks and four ships were
hit.
John was brought home to the house where I’m
stood. His dad wasn’t around much and later John would brand him selfish and
unloving (a little unfair as he was a merchant sailor doing a vital and
dangerous job; many were drowned or blown up when hit by German U-boats.) Life
plodded on at number nine and for John this was “the first place I remember…red
brick…front room never used, always curtains drawn…picture of a horse and
carriage on the wall. There were only three bedrooms upstairs, one on the front
of the street, one in the back and one teeny little room in the middle…”
When he was two-and-a-half his dad went away
again and wouldn’t return for sixteen months (he and his mum didn’t know if he
was dead or alive.) His bored mum was capricious and started going to dance
halls and met Taffy Williams, a soldier stationed out on The Wirral. She was
soon pregnant but when husband Alf returned home she pretended she’d been
raped. Alf confronted Williams and found out there’d been a romance of sorts.
To keep the peace he said he'd bring up the baby as his own. A girl was born in
June 1945 but, due to family pressure, she was put up for adoption (a Norwegian
couple adopted her.)
Due to his mum’s flightiness or his dad's
absences John's life at number nine was messy and unstable. While his mum was
pregnant he was sent to live with his uncle’s family in Maghull. They hoped to
adopt him and give him a solid loving life but his dad turned up one night
without warning and announced he was taking John away. In 1946 his dad returned
from another cruise to find his mum was having a relationship with a hotel
waiter. His parents had a furious fight at this house and his mum announced she
was setting up home with her boyfriend and taking John with her. Her lover
moved in and John’s dad left.
John didn’t like his new dad and one day he
walked two miles to his Aunty Mimi’s in Woolton. He was missing his dad who was
away on a ship and promised to come back in two weeks when the ship docked at
Southampton. He spirited John to Blackpool and for about three weeks he hid out
there with John, treating him to fair and carnival rides. John's mum was soon
on the trail and he was forced into choose - live with mum or dad. His dad
wanted him to take him to New Zealand to start a new and wonderful life. His
mum agreed, asking to see him one last time but John ran after her, burying his
face in her skirt, sobbing and begging her not to go. He chose his dad and grabbed
his big hand but he panicked when his mum walked away and he ran after her. In
the end John and his mum left the house and disappeared into the holiday
crowds. His dad pretty much walked out of his life.
In the end John left number nine and moved in
with his Aunt Mimi who assumed responsibility of the six year old (worried
about John she’d reported her own flighty unreliable sister to the Social
Services.) Later he would say he lost his mum twice - when he was five and moved
in with Aunt Mimi and when he was seventeen when his mum was knocked down and
killed. His dad drifted away and didn’t return until the advent of Beatlemania.
Newcastle Street was quiet that Sunday afternoon.
All the bay-windowed houses shared the same structure and were only different
in their style and colour of doors/windows. Blinds were closed at number nine and
I took a few photos knowing someone wouldn’t run out reprimanding me (I suppose
they’re used to visitors.) The house sold at an auction held in the Cavern Club
for £480,000. It went to an anonymous American fan (the reserve price was
£150,000 and £250,000.) Later John said, "I lived in 9 Newcastle Road. I
was born on the 9 of October. It's just a number that follows me around."
He co/wrote songs Revolution 9, One After 909 and#9 Dream. The number bounds
around as follows:-
McCartney’s surname has nine letters, as does Sutcliffe’s.
The group became The Beatles in 1960, and Lennon left in 1969, nine
years later.
The Beatles’ first appearance at the Cavern Club was on 9 February
1961.
Brian Epstein, The Beatles’ manager, first saw them perform on 9
November 1961.
The group’s contract with EMI was confirmed on 9 May 1962.
The Beatles’ debut single, Love Me Do, was on Parlophone R4949.
Their record-breaking debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was on
9 February 1964.
Yoko Ono visited recently and looked so frail it's doubtful she'll
visit again. I did a salute and left.
The previous owners like his
flowers...
