Post by Forum Manager on Jul 18, 2010 2:59:04 GMT
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqU2teFtw8
Two snapshots of a little boy taken from a family album. At this age, there was nothing to distinguish him from any other child. But destiny would later place him among the music greats of this century. This was master John Lennon.
Millions of words have been spent on the Beatles phenomenon, and in particular on the public image and private life of John Lennon. But there was another side to this complex and often much misunderstood man.
Now for the first time, his aunt Mimi Smith has opened the door of her home in Dorset to talk of an extraordinary friendship that existed between them and that lasted until his death just a year ago.
John Lennon bought this house, which looks over Sandbanks Bay for his Aunt Mimi 16 years ago. It was his link with reality, and above all with his aunt. Here, away from the prying eyes of his fans, he would escape from the pressures of fame and fortune, and talk to the one person he said who always understood him, his Auntie Mimi.
What she has left, now that John has gone, is a host of memories, wrapped in letters, photographs, presents, and phone calls, that are to her beyond price. They tell a very different story to the one painted in lurid headlines by tabloid newspapers.
Mimi looked after John on the separation of his parents when he was just a baby. She remained the mother figure in his life until his death when he was gunned down outside his New York apartment last December.
But despite the anguish of his murder, her memories are happy ones. She remembers for example, buying him his first guitar.
Mimi: Well, I battled against it you know, for quite a long time.
Interviewer: Why?
Mimi: Well, I didn't want him wasting his college time and missing lectures by wasting his time playing a guitar. Well as his training would last, these things come and go. They're playing a guitar one week, everybody's clamoring for them, then they disappear, nobody ever hears of them again. And then what was I going to do, if I had a boy of 21 thrown back on my hands qualified for nothing?
Interviewer: Can you remember the day when he got his guitar? Can you remember his reaction?
Mimi: Well he's a bit like yourself, a soft-soaper. And he picked me up you know and uh - kisses on the cheek. "Mimi can I have a guitar?" And he hadn't any money to get a guitar, there was only me could buy him one. And I remember we went to Liverpool, and we went into a guitar shop - you know, they were all over the place. I didn't know anything about them, so he chose one, and it was 17 pounds.
Interviewer: How surprised were you that The Beatles went on to achieve worldwide fame and success?
Mimi: I knew that they had something, but - nobody expected this. It was a surprise to them too.
Interviewer: Now when John became famous, how often were you able to see him here at Studland?
Mimi: Oh, he'd nip down weekends. Well, I couldn't say any day, you know - suddenly there'd be a whirlwind, and he'd come in. But it was usually if the pressure was getting a bit much, you know. He'd come down here and do cartwheels on the beach, by himself, nobody else there. Until one time, one of the ferryman Mr...eh, noticed who it was. And the next thing, the TV cameras were up here. So I was annoyed, and he said, "Oh Mimi, you mustn't be annoyed," he said, "really, he'd probably get 5 pounds for ringing up, you know, and saying that I was down here."
Interviewer: Now when he went to America, he kept in touch with you by telephone. What did you used to talk about?
Mimi: Sometimes we'd talk about current affairs and how the pound was going up and down, you know, and that sort of thing. And another time, he'd be reminiscing about his childhood, you know, the funny things...because I was always chasing him, you know. I knew what he was up to before...what he could not make out was how I knew when he was up to something.
Interviewer: What about these antics that he got up to? What about the famous love-in with Yoko Ono, did you talk to him about that?
Mimi: I certainly did! I just found him, telephoned him, and I said, "that's enough! Thank you, we've had enough! Keep that lark for the music hall." And that was the end of it.
Interviewer: So he listened to you then?
Mimi: Well, though he rebelled, and said, "I'm not going to do as you tell me." But he always did.
Interviewer: What did you make of his wife Yoko Ono? Did you ever meet her?
Mimi: Oh yes I met her. I've met her in London, and I've met her once down here. That was in the early days when he brought her. Well, I didn't know what it was all about. I wondered who he was - who it was. And I said, who's this? He was to say, it's Yoko. I didn't think anything of it, you know. But I did say, "what do you do for a living" - to her - and she said, "I'm an artist." I said, "that's very funny, I've never heard of you."
Interviewer: What did he used to call you?
Mimi: Mimi. My name is Mary Elizabeth, but I've never been anything else but Mimi. But when he'd been naughty, as I'd say, and I'd ring him up, and I said, "don't have me to come to New York!" and then he'd say, "Oh, you're just being grumpy." So I - as soon as he said that, down goes the phone, you see, and then, wait for about half an hour. Then he'd get friendly with me again, he always did, "Hello is that you Gertie? Never mind Gertie."
Interviewer: Did he give you many presents?
Mimi: Honestly, the place is full of presents. These pearls, everything. And I could have had anything in the world. But I'm just one of those people, that are rather spartan, and I don't want anything.
Interviewer: He wanted you to go live with him in America...
Mimi: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you regret that you didn't?
Mimi: No. No! I couldn't live in America. And you see with him phoning for so long, certainly once a week and sometimes twice a week, the phone is so clear, I didn't feel that he'd been away at all. It was as good as seeing him.
Interviewer: What do you make of all these stories that have been published about John Lennon since his death?
Mimi: Do you mean these scurrilous remarks?
Interviewer: I mean stories concerning his private life, his sex life...
Mimi: Never heard anything like it in my life! And if these things crawling out of the woodwork - why don't they come out while he's alive, and let him defend himself? Why wait 'til he's dead? And well timed and delivered, every one of them. But I think they're sick, deprived people, obsessed with sex, craving for attention.
Interviewer: When was the last time he phoned you?
Mimi: The night before he was murdered, two hours. And he was saying, "I'll be seeing you soon Mimi, I can't wait to see you." And then of course at 5 o'clock the next morning, it came over the overseas news. And honestly, if I'd thought he was dead, I don't think I could go on. I don't think of him as dead.
Interviewer: Of all the songs John composed and sang, was there a favorite one that you enjoyed?
Mimi: Well, I don't know. I think A Hard Day's Night's not so bad at the present time.
Two snapshots of a little boy taken from a family album. At this age, there was nothing to distinguish him from any other child. But destiny would later place him among the music greats of this century. This was master John Lennon.
Millions of words have been spent on the Beatles phenomenon, and in particular on the public image and private life of John Lennon. But there was another side to this complex and often much misunderstood man.
Now for the first time, his aunt Mimi Smith has opened the door of her home in Dorset to talk of an extraordinary friendship that existed between them and that lasted until his death just a year ago.
John Lennon bought this house, which looks over Sandbanks Bay for his Aunt Mimi 16 years ago. It was his link with reality, and above all with his aunt. Here, away from the prying eyes of his fans, he would escape from the pressures of fame and fortune, and talk to the one person he said who always understood him, his Auntie Mimi.
What she has left, now that John has gone, is a host of memories, wrapped in letters, photographs, presents, and phone calls, that are to her beyond price. They tell a very different story to the one painted in lurid headlines by tabloid newspapers.
Mimi looked after John on the separation of his parents when he was just a baby. She remained the mother figure in his life until his death when he was gunned down outside his New York apartment last December.
But despite the anguish of his murder, her memories are happy ones. She remembers for example, buying him his first guitar.
Mimi: Well, I battled against it you know, for quite a long time.
Interviewer: Why?
Mimi: Well, I didn't want him wasting his college time and missing lectures by wasting his time playing a guitar. Well as his training would last, these things come and go. They're playing a guitar one week, everybody's clamoring for them, then they disappear, nobody ever hears of them again. And then what was I going to do, if I had a boy of 21 thrown back on my hands qualified for nothing?
Interviewer: Can you remember the day when he got his guitar? Can you remember his reaction?
Mimi: Well he's a bit like yourself, a soft-soaper. And he picked me up you know and uh - kisses on the cheek. "Mimi can I have a guitar?" And he hadn't any money to get a guitar, there was only me could buy him one. And I remember we went to Liverpool, and we went into a guitar shop - you know, they were all over the place. I didn't know anything about them, so he chose one, and it was 17 pounds.
Interviewer: How surprised were you that The Beatles went on to achieve worldwide fame and success?
Mimi: I knew that they had something, but - nobody expected this. It was a surprise to them too.
Interviewer: Now when John became famous, how often were you able to see him here at Studland?
Mimi: Oh, he'd nip down weekends. Well, I couldn't say any day, you know - suddenly there'd be a whirlwind, and he'd come in. But it was usually if the pressure was getting a bit much, you know. He'd come down here and do cartwheels on the beach, by himself, nobody else there. Until one time, one of the ferryman Mr...eh, noticed who it was. And the next thing, the TV cameras were up here. So I was annoyed, and he said, "Oh Mimi, you mustn't be annoyed," he said, "really, he'd probably get 5 pounds for ringing up, you know, and saying that I was down here."
Interviewer: Now when he went to America, he kept in touch with you by telephone. What did you used to talk about?
Mimi: Sometimes we'd talk about current affairs and how the pound was going up and down, you know, and that sort of thing. And another time, he'd be reminiscing about his childhood, you know, the funny things...because I was always chasing him, you know. I knew what he was up to before...what he could not make out was how I knew when he was up to something.
Interviewer: What about these antics that he got up to? What about the famous love-in with Yoko Ono, did you talk to him about that?
Mimi: I certainly did! I just found him, telephoned him, and I said, "that's enough! Thank you, we've had enough! Keep that lark for the music hall." And that was the end of it.
Interviewer: So he listened to you then?
Mimi: Well, though he rebelled, and said, "I'm not going to do as you tell me." But he always did.
Interviewer: What did you make of his wife Yoko Ono? Did you ever meet her?
Mimi: Oh yes I met her. I've met her in London, and I've met her once down here. That was in the early days when he brought her. Well, I didn't know what it was all about. I wondered who he was - who it was. And I said, who's this? He was to say, it's Yoko. I didn't think anything of it, you know. But I did say, "what do you do for a living" - to her - and she said, "I'm an artist." I said, "that's very funny, I've never heard of you."
Interviewer: What did he used to call you?
Mimi: Mimi. My name is Mary Elizabeth, but I've never been anything else but Mimi. But when he'd been naughty, as I'd say, and I'd ring him up, and I said, "don't have me to come to New York!" and then he'd say, "Oh, you're just being grumpy." So I - as soon as he said that, down goes the phone, you see, and then, wait for about half an hour. Then he'd get friendly with me again, he always did, "Hello is that you Gertie? Never mind Gertie."
Interviewer: Did he give you many presents?
Mimi: Honestly, the place is full of presents. These pearls, everything. And I could have had anything in the world. But I'm just one of those people, that are rather spartan, and I don't want anything.
Interviewer: He wanted you to go live with him in America...
Mimi: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you regret that you didn't?
Mimi: No. No! I couldn't live in America. And you see with him phoning for so long, certainly once a week and sometimes twice a week, the phone is so clear, I didn't feel that he'd been away at all. It was as good as seeing him.
Interviewer: What do you make of all these stories that have been published about John Lennon since his death?
Mimi: Do you mean these scurrilous remarks?
Interviewer: I mean stories concerning his private life, his sex life...
Mimi: Never heard anything like it in my life! And if these things crawling out of the woodwork - why don't they come out while he's alive, and let him defend himself? Why wait 'til he's dead? And well timed and delivered, every one of them. But I think they're sick, deprived people, obsessed with sex, craving for attention.
Interviewer: When was the last time he phoned you?
Mimi: The night before he was murdered, two hours. And he was saying, "I'll be seeing you soon Mimi, I can't wait to see you." And then of course at 5 o'clock the next morning, it came over the overseas news. And honestly, if I'd thought he was dead, I don't think I could go on. I don't think of him as dead.
Interviewer: Of all the songs John composed and sang, was there a favorite one that you enjoyed?
Mimi: Well, I don't know. I think A Hard Day's Night's not so bad at the present time.
