Cynthia Powell Lennon: Beatlerama Canada 1994
John Ono Lennon's first wife on Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe.
Oct 9, 2008
In 1994, Cynthia Powell Lennon, Pauline Sutcliffe, ( fifth Beatle, Stu Sutcliffe's, sister) Pete Best ( first Beatle drummer) , Louise Harrison (George Harrison's sister), and The Man Who Gave Us The Beatles Allan Williams - were all in Toronto Canada for a Beatlerama convention. The following series is taken a panel discussion followed by an exclusive interview with Cynthia Powell Lennon also conducted in 1994.
John Lennon’s first wife Cynthia became a talented artist and writer who now lives in Europe with her partner Noel Charles. But in 1957, when she met John Lennon at The Liverpool College of Art at age 18, he “frightened her death” and the rest is pop music history. In this interview, Cynthia Powell Lennon reflects on her college days with John and his best friend artist Stuart Sutcliffe.
Suite 101: You once wrote that John Lennon was a mixture of war and peace and eventually the Peace came out….
Cynthia Powell Lennon: “I suppose John was always warring with himself in his own world. When I knew him and everybody else knew him, he was an aggressive young man to put it nicely. Because of his artistic talents and his wit and everything else, he got away with murder. Hic cartoons were obscene but people would laugh at them and he would take off handicapped people and people would still laugh at him. He made humour out of horror so I think in his soul as a young man, he had to go through a lot of pain and a lot of anguish which came out as best it could with John through humour and art."
Suite 101: As a visual artist yourself, what style art appeals to you?
Cynthia Powell Lennon: “ All art is good that appeals to me and that’s how art should be, art that the artist has put his heart and soul into."
Suite 101: Can you talk about those college days with you and John and Stuart?
Cynthia Powell Lennon: "When I was a student, Stuart helped John out with his art a great deal, because they were very close friends. John and I used to be in lettering class which was dull and boring. It was part of a foundation course, you do a bit of everything - if you want to be an illustrator, then you have to do commercial art which is lettering for for posters, and commercial ventures and things.
So when I was bored I would go and wonder around the art departments, the painting departments, the silver- smithing departments and I would always be drawn to the life room and Stuart would always be there absolutely dedicated to his work, drawing away totally obsessed with it. It was fantastic. He was a truly wonderful artist and very young.
I love art and that was I have wanted to do all my life but to see someone that made you feel so inferior but also made you want to learn from him. Every time I would look at his work and think that’s how he does it. It was so wonderful. He was a brilliant artist."
Part Two - Cynthia Lennon talks about The Beatles Phonemema and setting the record straight.
