john lennon's father

[donegal]

did john lennon know his father? cos his father left his mother when he was small. did they ever met up?

[andy hughes]

I believe Mr Lennon did try to contact John once his son became famous, but there was no reconnection between them - John was still too hurt at being abandoned - a facet of his life which informed his work thorughout his Beatles and solo careers

[surfer mike]

yes.briefly when he was a boy. and then later when a newspaper brought them together on the set of a hard days night but apparantly john probably rightly believed he was only after him for money and it never worked out.

When Alf contracted terminal stomach cancer in 1976 alfs then wife Pauline contacted Apple to make sure John knew his father was dying. John phoned Alf and sent a large bouquet of flowers to the hospital. When Alf died, John offered to pay for the funeral. Pauline refused, preferring to pay for the arrangements herself.

[vehelpfulguy]

And of course his mother was somewhat erractic and would rather go out than look after John, which is why he was brought up by his Aunt Mimi.

His mother was then killed in a car crash when John was quite young.

All this pain came out in the song Mother from his first solo album "Mother, you had me but I never had you"