Editing John Lennon (section)

==Early years: 1940–1956==
[[File:Mendipsnationaltrust.JPG|thumb|alt=A grey two-storey building, with numerous windows visible on both levels|Lennon's home at [[251 Menlove Avenue]]]]
John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October 1940 at [[Liverpool Maternity Hospital]], the only child of [[Alfred Lennon|Alfred]] and [[Julia Lennon]] ([[née]] Stanley). Alfred was a [[Merchant Navy|merchant seaman]] of [[Irish people|Irish]] descent who was away at the time of his son's birth.{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=504}} His parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John "Jack" Lennon, and Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=24: "Julia offered the name in honour of&nbsp;... Winston Churchill"}} His father was often away from home but sent regular pay cheques to 9{{nbsp}}Newcastle Road, Liverpool, where Lennon lived with his mother;{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=24: "The entire Stanley clan gathered nightly at Newcastle Road"}} the cheques stopped when he went [[AWOL|absent without leave]] in February 1944.{{sfn|Lennon|2005|p=54: "Until then he had sent her money each month from his wages, but now it stopped"}}{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=26: "In February 1944&nbsp;... he was arrested and imprisoned. Freddie subsequently disappeared for six months"}} When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, but Julia, by then pregnant with another man's child, rejected the idea.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=27}} After her sister [[Mimi Smith|Mimi]] complained to Liverpool's Social Services twice, Julia gave her custody of Lennon.

In July 1946, Lennon's father visited her and took his son to [[Blackpool]], secretly intending to emigrate to [[New Zealand]] with him.{{sfn|Lennon|2005|p=56: "Alf admitted to her that he had planned to take John to live in New Zealand"}} Julia followed them – with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins – and after a heated argument, his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. In one account of this incident, Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=30: "Julia went out of the door&nbsp;... John ran after her"}} According to author [[Mark Lewisohn]], however, Lennon's parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home. Billy Hall, who witnessed the incident, has said that the dramatic portrayal of a young John Lennon being forced to make a decision between his parents is inaccurate.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2013|pp=41–42}} Lennon had no further contact with Alf for close to 20 years.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=497}}

Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence, Lennon lived at [[251 Menlove Avenue|Mendips, 251{{nbsp}}Menlove Avenue]], Woolton, with Mimi and her husband [[George Toogood Smith]], who had no children of their own.{{sfn|Lennon|2005|p=56: "Hard to see why Mimi wanted John, as she had always said she didn't want children"}} His aunt purchased volumes of short stories for him, and his uncle, a dairyman at his family's farm, bought him a mouth organ and engaged him in solving {{linktext|crossword}} puzzles.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=32: "When he was old enough, taught John how to solve crossword puzzles"}} Julia visited Mendips on a regular basis, and John often visited her at 1&nbsp;Blomfield Road, Liverpool, where she played him [[Elvis Presley]] records, taught him the banjo, and showed him how to play "[[Ain't That a Shame]]" by [[Fats Domino]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=48: "To get them started, she applied the triad to 'Ain't That a Shame{{'"}}}} In September 1980, Lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature:

{{blockquote|A part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society and ''not'' be this loudmouthed lunatic poet/musician. But I cannot be what I am not&nbsp;... I was the one who all the other boys' parents – including Paul's father – would say, "Keep away from him" ...&nbsp;The parents instinctively recognised I was a troublemaker, meaning I did not conform and I would influence their children, which I did. I did my best to disrupt every friend's home&nbsp;... Partly out of envy that I didn't have this so-called home&nbsp;... but I ''did'' ...&nbsp;There were five women that were my family. Five ''strong'', ''intelligent'', ''beautiful'' women, five sisters. One happened to be my mother. [She] just couldn't deal with life. She was the youngest and she had a husband who ran away to sea and the war was on and she couldn't cope with me, and I ended up living with her elder sister. Now those women were fantastic&nbsp;... And that was my first feminist education&nbsp;... I would infiltrate the other boys' minds. I could say, "Parents are not gods because I don't live with mine and, therefore, I know."{{sfn|Sheff|2000|pp=158–59, 160–61}}}}

He regularly visited his cousin Stanley Parkes, who lived in [[Fleetwood]] and took him on trips to local cinemas.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=32: "Parkes recalled&nbsp;... Leila and John to the cinema as often as three times a day"}} During the school holidays Parkes often visited Lennon with Leila Harvey, another cousin, and the three often travelled to Blackpool two or three times a week to watch shows. They would visit the [[Blackpool Tower Circus]] and see artists such as [[Dickie Valentine]], [[Arthur Askey]], [[Max Bygraves]] and [[Joe Loss]], with Parkes recalling that Lennon particularly liked [[George Formby, Jr.|George Formby]].{{sfn|Harry|2009}} After Parkes's family moved to Scotland, the three cousins often spent their school holidays together there. Parkes recalled, "John, cousin Leila and I were very close. From Edinburgh we would drive up to the family croft at [[Durness]], which was from about the time John was nine years old until he was about 16."{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=702}} Lennon's uncle George died of a liver haemorrhage on 5 June 1955, aged 52.{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=819}}

Lennon was raised as an [[Anglican]] and attended [[Dovedale Primary School]].{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=411}} After passing his [[eleven-plus]] exam, he attended [[Quarry Bank High School]] in Liverpool from September 1952 to 1957, and was described by Harvey at the time as a "happy-go-lucky, good-humoured, easy going, lively lad".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=32–33}} However, he was also known to frequently engage in fights, bully and disrupt classes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kenny |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eMNjDwAAQBAJ&dq=The+Making+of+John+Lennon,+he+was+into+fight+and+bullying&pg=PT73 |title=The Making of John Lennon |date=11 July 2018 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-1-68435-036-0 |language=en |access-date=25 February 2023 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412065826/https://books.google.com/books?id=eMNjDwAAQBAJ&dq=The+Making+of+John+Lennon,+he+was+into+fight+and+bullying&pg=PT73 |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite this, he quickly built a reputation as the class clown<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plZzEAAAQBAJ&dq=John+Lennon+class+clown&pg=PT10 |title=&#91;Must Read Personalities&#93; A life Story of John Lennon |date=5 June 2022 |publisher=by Mocktime Publication |pages=10 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412065826/https://books.google.com/books?id=plZzEAAAQBAJ&dq=John+Lennon+class+clown&pg=PT10 |url-status=live}}</ref> and often drew comical cartoons that appeared in his self-made school magazine, the ''Daily Howl''.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=40}}{{refn|group=nb|In 2005, the [[National Postal Museum]] in the US acquired a stamp collection that Lennon had assembled when he was a boy.<ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/john-lennons-first-album-71943851/ John Lennon's First Album.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102052711/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/john-lennons-first-album-71943851/ |date=2 January 2023 }} Owen Edwards, Smithsonian.com, September 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2016.</ref>}}

In 1956, Julia bought John his first guitar. The instrument was an inexpensive [[Gallotone Champion]] acoustic for which she lent her son five pounds and ten shillings on the condition that the guitar be delivered to her own house and not Mimi's, knowing well that her sister was not supportive of her son's musical aspirations.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=45}} Mimi was sceptical of his claim that he would be famous one day, and she hoped that he would grow bored with music, often telling him, "The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it."{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=89}}

Lennon's senior school years were marked by a shift in his behaviour. Teachers at [[Quarry Bank High School]] described him thus: "He has too many wrong ambitions and his energy is often misplaced", and "His work always lacks effort. He is content to 'drift' instead of using his abilities."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dustyoldthing.com/john-lennons-bad-report-card/ |title=John Lennon's Abysmal 1956 Report Card Shows Grades Aren't Everything |last=Heichelbech |first=Rose |date=19 December 2018 |website=Dusty Old Thing |language=en |access-date=3 October 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203042327/https://dustyoldthing.com/john-lennons-bad-report-card/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Lennon's misbehaviour created a rift in his relationship with his aunt.

On 15 July 1958, at the age of 44, Julia Lennon was struck and killed by a car while she was walking home after visiting the Smiths' house.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=48}} His mother's death traumatised the teenage Lennon, who, for the next two years, drank heavily and frequently got into fights, consumed by a "blind rage".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=326}} Julia's memory would later serve as a major creative inspiration for Lennon, inspiring songs such as the 1968 Beatles song "[[Julia (Beatles song)|Julia]]".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=327}}

Lennon failed his O-level examinations, and was accepted into the [[Liverpool College of Art]] after his aunt and headmaster intervened.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=100}} At the college he began to wear [[Teddy Boy]] clothes and was threatened with expulsion for his behaviour.{{sfn|Harry|2000b|pp=553–555}} In the description of [[Cynthia Powell]], Lennon's fellow student and subsequently his wife, he was "thrown out of the college before his final year".{{sfn|Lennon|2005|p=50}}