John Lennon was born to Julia and Alfred Lennon on October 9, 1940. The musician’s father was away serving as a commercial seaman at the time of the child’s birth. Alfred Lennon provided his family just monthly salary checks and frequently lived away from home up to his disappearance in 1944. Six months later, Lennon’s father returned, but Julia, his mother, had been carrying another man’s child and didn’t want him to return.
Alfred and Julia argued in 1946 and begged the pianist to pick one of them. Lennon was allegedly forced to pick between his parents, but he finally went with his mother. John grew up with Mimi, Julia’s sister, because Julia was unable to care for him. However, she gave him music lessons and visited Lennon frequently at that time. Lennon wasn’t a well-behaved youngster after going through such a tough upbringing. In addition, his treatment of the disabled was strange and disturbing.
What Views Did John Lennon Have on People With Disabilities?
A dramatized biographical movie about John Lennon’s youth was produced in 2009. Sam Taylor-film Wood’s “Nowhere Boy” is based on Julia Baird, the half-sister of John Lennon. It discusses the musician’s relationships with his mother Julia, aunt Mimi, his first band the Quarrymen, and the founding of the Beatles in addition to presenting lesser-known facts about the late Beatle’s boyhood.
Aaron Johnson depicts Lennon as a thoughtful and modest youngster in “Nowhere Boy.” In reality, though, it wasn’t like that. Lennon allegedly led gangs, engaged in shoplifting, bullied his teachers and classmates, and had an odd fascination with the crippled, according to a 2009 story by the Guardian. The musician drew numerous loathsome illustrations of humans in his notebooks while he attended Quarry Bank School.
The 1985 biography of John Lennon by Ray Coleman claims that the artist relished making fun of individuals with disabilities and had little tolerance or compassion for them. Thelma Pickles, a former classmate from art school, said that Lennon enjoyed making fun of the crippled. He allegedly ran up to anyone who had any physical impairments and made obscene expressions while laughing at them.
According to Ray Coleman’s “Lennon: The Definitive Biography,”:
“John Lennon developed an instinctive ability to mock the weak, with whom he had no patience.”
Thelma Pickles, a former classmate, also said the following things about the musician:
“Anyone limping or crippled or hunchbacked, or deformed in any way, John laughed and ran up to them to make horrible faces.”
It appears that John Lennon lacked compassion for people with disabilities when he was a youngster. Given that Lennon had a difficult upbringing and felt that he didn’t fit elsewhere, it’s logical to infer that he vented his rage on other people. Nevertheless, it was clear that this was harmful to him and traumatic to all those around young-Lennon.