FREE JOHN LENNON IN HIS OWN WORDS PDF John Lennon | 1 pages | 01 Apr 2014 | BBC Audio, A Division Of Random House | 9781471339332 | English | London, United Kingdom Blue Plaque: John Lennon | Attractions in Marylebone, London Never one to make a discreet entrance, when John Lennon came into the world on October 9,it was amid a Liverpool whose docks and surrounding neighborhoods were under almost constant threat from the bombs of Hitler's Luftwaffe. The Battle of Britain had moved into high gear as the Germans attempted to complete their takeover of Western Europe, but Mary Elizabeth Mimi Smith was prepared to risk the possibility of flying debris and shrapnel. She ran all the way to Liverpool Maternity Hospital as soon as she heard that her sister, Julia, had given birth to a baby son, christened with the middle name of Winston as a tribute to Britain's unflagging Prime Minister. Mimi's effort to see her new nephew was rewarded for, as she asserted many years later, "I knew the moment I first set eyes on John that he was going to be something special. In any case, she need have looked no further than the little boy's mother to determine the broad shape of his personality. Julia Lennon born Stanley was a carefree, fun-loving woman. Her behavior was sometimes irresponsible and often eccentric, and in sharp contrast to the reserved manners and sober attitude of Mimi. Everything was funny, but she couldn't see into people until it was too late. She was more sinned against than sinning. Julia was a movie usherette before she married ship's steward Alfred Freddie Lennon on a whim on December 3, Both in their mid-twenties, they were at first very happy together, but neither of them was ready, emotionally or financially, to John Lennon in His Own Words up a child. Freddie's father, Jack, had been born in Dublin and toured the United States as a Kentucky minstrel during the s. Retirement brought him to Liverpool, and after Jack's death in nine-year-old Freddie tried to continue the showbiz tradition when he ran away from his orphanage to join a children's troupe. The authorities soon put an end to his big-time ambitions, however, and by the age of 15 he was well educated and working as an office boy. It was at around this time that he met Julia Stanley. A year later he quit the office for the sea, finding employment first as a bellboy and then as a waiter, but his lack of ambition meant that he would progress no further. By the time John was born some twelve years later, Freddie was serving as headwaiter on a ship bound for New York. The home life was not for him, and in spite of the occasional visit and the odd postcard, there was little sign of the elder Lennon over the next few years as he sailed his way around Canada, France, Italy and North Africa. Julia, in the meantime, was not exactly tying herself down either. Having handed over the responsibility for John's upbringing to Mimi and her husband George, she John Lennon in His Own Words that the best way to mourn Freddie's absence was to go out and have a good time with her friends. For a while everything ran smoothly, but then Freddie spoiled things. In an attempt to save the faltering marriage, he reappeared on the scene shortly after the five-year-old John had been enrolled in Dovedale Primary School off Penny Lane. Needless to say, he came back too late to do the marriage any good. His wife had set up housekeeping with another man, and she showed absolutely no interest in Freddie's desperate pleas to patch up the relationship. Freddie's response was to take John to the nearby coastal resort of Blackpool, secretly planning to emigrate with his son to New Zealand and start a new life there. Julia, sensing trouble, arrived in Blackpool and demanded that their son return to Liverpool with her. What followed was a reckless tug-of-love that left emotional scars that John would carry for the rest of his life. In a ridiculous scene straight out of the movies, the parents presented their child with an ultimatum as to whom he wanted to live with. Totally confused, the sobbing boy first opted for his father, but then, after watching his mother walk out of the door and down the street, he changed his mind and chased after her. John Lennon would not spend the bulk of his childhood living with his mother, Julia Lennon. Having made her point and won her battle when John chose her over his father, Julia Lennon placed her son back in the sedate and comfortable setting of Mendips, Mimi and George Smith's house at Menlove Avenue, situated in the middle-class Liverpool suburb of Woolton. Here John would spend his days playing with friends, indulging his passion for drawing and, after Uncle George had taught him how, reading books and newspapers in his small bedroom above the front porch. By the time he was seven he had compiled his own series of jokes, drawings, and John Lennon in His Own Words, under the title of "Sport, Speed and Illustrated. Edited and Illustrated by J. It'll be even better. The infrequent visits by Julia added to the household's overall feeling of stability. Looking back on this period Mimi, together with her three other sisters -- Anne, Elizabeth and Harriet -- would recall to biographer Hunter Davies that the pre-teen John "was as happy as the day was long. That may have been true on the surface, but John's attitude at school displayed an underlying anger and frustration, possibly because of his parents' neglect. The teachers noted his talent for art and his sharp mind, but also suffered a boy with a sharp John Lennon in His Own Words and an appetite for fighting and mischief making. Hunter Davies quotes John as admitting, "I fought all the way through Dovedale. I learned lots of dirty jokes very young; there was this girl who told me them … Other boys' parents hated me. They were always warning their kids not to play with me. Not that this bothered John -- quite the opposite, in fact, for the boy discovered that a shabby appearance only enhanced the effect of rebelliousness. Seeing conformity as a sign of weakness, he hated the idea of a school uniform, and he made this quite clear by wearing a black blazer that often looked more like a crumpled bag, a white shirt that was usually unbuttoned, and gray shorts that would typically be covered in mud. For the ultra-strict Mimi John Lennon in His Own Words kind of behavior was too much to John Lennon in His Own Words. One John Lennon in His Own Words John's favorite stories about his aunt centered around the time she was walking down Penny Lane and saw a crowd observing a fight between a couple of "common scruffs. To my horror, it was Lennon! Poor Mimi. Here she was, doing her best to bring John up "properly," and all he could do was let her down! Still, intelligence combined with a minimum of studying saw him through the "plus" high school entrance test, an accomplishment that earned him a brand new bicycle, courtesy of Uncle George. Mimi had decided against the highly respected Liverpool Institute because it was situated farther away, and besides, Quarry Bank was located in a nicer, more residential district. Helping out on this unpeaceful venture was a friend, Pete Shotton, a fuzzy-haired boy who had also made the switch from Dovedale. John, by his own admission, saw aggression as his route to John Lennon in His Own Words. Never one to simply merge into the background, he had to be the leader, the hero, the center of attention. Shotton was his loyal second-in-command, and together they set about breaking every rule they could. Swearing, smoking, fighting, and penning obscene poems and drawings were all part of the rogues' repertoire, as were other petty offenses that found their way onto the John Lennon school report: "Insolence," "cutting class," and "throwing blackboard out of window. In the book John Winston Lennonauthor Ray Coleman quotes Eric Oldman, John's housemaster and chemistry teacher, who remembered that " [John] was awkward, but there was something in him. It wasn't sheer wickedness, but more spirit. He seemed determined not to conform to the rules. But he had a John Lennon in His Own Words and a humor and ability. Pete Shotton, John Lennon's childhood friend, recollects an incident early on during their time at Quarry Bank Grammar School, when he and John were ordered to report to the Deputy Head as punishment for one of their crimes. Most kids in this kind of situation John Lennon in His Own Words just apologize or plead their innocence, but of course Master Lennon had to go one better. The teacher -- who was sitting between the two boys -- happened to be bald, and so John happily accepted the chance to perform one of his favorite tricks: tickling the man's head whenever he looked the other way. As usual, the victim tried to swat the imaginary fly and as usual John's sleight of hand left his victim totally confused and irritated. Never mind the fact that it wasn't even raining! On another occasion, the demonic duo was sent to the headmaster to be caned.