Baird met Sean for the first time in 1991 at Aunt Mimi’s funeral but remained close to Cynthia until her passing in 2015 and stays in touch with Julian. In 1964 The Beatles debuted in America, and John returned with tales of the “crazy American fan base.” Baird and Jackie visited Lennon, Cynthia and Julian at their Weybridge/Surry home, saw The Beatles and Rolling Stones perform together and attended British Beatles concerts.īaird writes in Imagine This that John was planning a trip to see his Liverpool family in 1981 he was murdered in December 1980 in New York, where he lived with his second wife, Yoko Ono, and son, Sean. Baird and Jackie were sent to live with relatives. In 1958 Julia Lennon, 44, was struck by a car and killed. She was only 5’2” and would strap herself into it with these big leather straps.”īaird also laughingly remembered John’s various pre-Beatles music groups: “Way before The Quarrymen, there was Johnny & The Moondogs, Johnny & The Rainbows … You could see who the leader of those groups were.” She was teaching him to play the piano, the banjo and the piano accordion, a great big one. They had a zany sense of humor and understood each other. My mother and John used to ‘laugh about’ in the kitchen, always joking and laughing. Or sign up for our monthly Nostalgia e-newsletter or other e-newsletters tailored for boomers! Like nostalgia? Browse celebrity nostalgia on our website. (In her book, Baird says Mimi dubbed her sister’s home “the House of Sin” and her own home as “the House of Correction.”) Despite the living arrangements, John managed to spend so much time with his mother that Baird said she “never knew a life without John.” Lennon’s mother was viewed as “living in sin” by Aunt Mimi, and family complaints to social services sent 5-year-old John to live with Mimi. After John’s parents separated, his mother entered into a common-law relationship with John Dykins, resulting in half sisters Julia and Jackie. That’s why there’s a second book.” FAMILY TIESīaird and Lennon share the same mother but had different fathers.

She didn’t have all the jigsaw bits, but she left me enough to give me some truth. The next day I rang up the BBC and spoke to the producer, or maybe it was the director,, ‘You didn’t even mention John’s sisters,’ and he said, ‘John hasn’t got any sisters.’ I said, ‘You’re talking to one!’ ”Įven after the 1988 book, Baird knew there was more to be told: “In 1997 Nanny was dying and she suddenly started to talk. “Beautiful Cynthia, they portrayed her as someone with a head scarf on who was ‘after’ John. “I sobbed all the way through it and children ended up comforting me,” she explained. Imagine This is her second book her first, My Brother, John Lennon (1988, co-written with Geoffrey Giuliano), was prompted by a 1985 BBC documentary on Lennon’s life. She lives in Liverpool and is one of The Cavern Club’s directors. He said, ‘Your book isn’t about John, it’s a love letter to your mother,’ and he nailed it … he put into words what is.”Ī petite, soft-spoken woman, Baird, 69, is a retired special-needs teacher who worked with troubled adolescents. Candid about her book and life, Baird grew up idolizing John and believes her book separates “John the Brother from John the World Icon.”īut she admitted, “Only in the last month, somebody wanted to meet me and we met in Liverpool coffee. Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be a member of John Lennon’s family? In 2007 Julia Baird wrote Imagine This: Growing Up with My Brother John Lennon. Baird is joining The Mersey Beatles on many 2016 tour dates. The Beatles played 292 times at The Cavern, a music venue and tourist attraction. John Lennon’s half sister, Julia Baird, spoke with BOOMER during an appearance at Hopewell’s Beacon Theatre in April 2916 with The Mersey Beatles ( ), resident Beatles tribute band at Liverpool’s Cavern Club for over a decade.

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