Beatles FAQ

Though John Lennon has described a very difficult childhood in emotional terms, he was more materially affluent than the others. Ringo, in contrast, has frequently paid tribute to his mother (Elsie) and his stepfather (Harry) for creating a very happy home. He nonetheless experienced 'Dickensian misfortune' that made the others count their blessings. Dingle The young Richard Starkey never made it to Mendips at this time - he first met the other Beatles much later in Hamburg. Had he done so, Aunt Mimi would no doubt have 'hidden the spoons', such was the notorious reputation of 'the Dingle', the area he came from.   Mimi would also have been startled by the young Starkey's physical appearance, which showed clear signs of his impoverishment and severe ill-health   Growing up in one of the roughest areas of the city meant that Ringo quickly developed survival skills.  'You learned to keep your eyes down but still watch what was going on,' he would late...

Paul soon abandoned the trumpet

Mimi never formally adopted her nephew. He came under her guardianship following a complex sequence of events. In 1940 Julia Lennon gave birth to John. At the time she was married to the biological father (Alf aka Freddie Lennon) they were effectively separated. In fact they had never had a joint home together. Julia initially brought up her son by alone, working in bars and cafes to support him. In 1945, she had a second child, Victoria. The father, a Welsh soldier, soon disappeared out of the picture. This time Julia put her daughter up for adoption. A suitable home? Towards the end of 1946, Julia further scandalised her family when she took up with John ‘Bobby’ Dykins, a wine steward at the Adelphi Hotel. The couple moved into a tiny flat in which there was literally one bed. Cohabitation outside marriage was still a major taboo but would not in itself have been of interest to the authorities. The couple sharing a bed with a child did raise concerns. Mimi reported these to the socia...

  "I played a lot of harmonica & mouth organ when I was a child. We used to take in students and one of them had a mouth organ and said he’d buy me one if I could learn a tune by the next morning. So I learnt two." John Lennon John Lennon Remembers In 1947 Aunt Mimi began an arrangement with Liverpool University to take in students as lodger. One of these young men was Harold Phillips, who was resuming his studies after serving in the Royal Navy. The seven-year-old John was fascinated by a harmonica that Phillips possessed. Phillips was amused and offered the boy the chance to keep the 'mouth iron' - as it was known locally.  Harold Phillips kept his word - but Aunt Mimi made John wait until Christmas before taking possession of his first musical instrument. ‘I felt the stocking and there was a mouth organ in it. A harmonica.’ That was one of the great moments of my life, when I got my first harmonica’. Interestingly, the harmonica had been played by his father an...