Alfred Lennon - Later Life

Later Life

Alf later told his version of what happened while he was AWOL in 1943. He claimed that he had sailed from America to Bône, North Africa, but was arrested for stealing one bottle of beer from the ship, consequently serving nine days in a military prison. After his release he became involved in various "shady deals", and was supposedly rescued from a criminal gang of Arabs. He eventually served on a troopship from North Africa to Italy before finally boarding a ship that was making its way to England, in 1944. In 1949, Alf's career at sea ended when he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He had been drinking when, late at night, he saw a mannequin in a wedding dress in a shop window. He broke the window, picked up the mannequin, and danced with it in the street until he was arrested.

In 1958, when Alf was working with Charlie Lennon in the Barn Restaurant in Solihull, their brother Sydney sent a newspaper clipping from the Liverpool Echo reporting that Julia had died. A saddened Alf left Solihull for London, but kept in touch with Charlie by phone.

Alf made no real attempt to contact John again until the height of Beatlemania (claiming he did not know who the Beatles were). He was working as a kitchen porter at the Greyhound Hotel in Hampton, South London, when someone pointed out a photograph of John Lennon in a newspaper and asked whether he was related to John. Alfred and Charlie visited one of the Beatles' Christmas shows at the Finsbury Park Empire in London. When the Beatles were filming a scene for A Hard Day's Night in the Scala Theatre in Soho in April 1964, Alf walked into Brian Epstein's NEMS office in Argyle Street with a journalist. "I'm John Lennon's father", he explained to the receptionist. When Epstein was informed, he "went into a panic", and immediately sent a car to bring John to NEMS office. Alf was shabbily dressed, with his unkempt, thinning grey hair greased back. He stuck out his hand, but John did not take it, saying "What do you want?". Alf placated John somewhat by saying, "You can't turn your back on your family, no matter what they've done." Their conversation did not last long, as John soon ordered Alf and the journalist out of the NEMS office. The Beatles' personal stories were kept out of the newspapers — by agreement with journalists who were offered exclusive stories in return — but one day John opened a copy of the Daily Express and saw a photo of his father.

A few weeks later, John's wife Cynthia opened the door of Kenwood (their home in Weybridge) to see a man who "looked like a tramp" but, alarmingly, with John's face. Cynthia invited Alf in, and gave him tea and cheese on toast until John came home, which he was expected to do in an hour or so. While waiting, Cynthia offered to cut Alf's "long, stringy locks" of hair, which he allowed her to do. After waiting for a couple of hours, Alf left. John was annoyed when he came home, and told Cynthia (for the first time) about Alf's visit to the NEMS office a few weeks earlier. Later he relented slightly and contacted Alf over the next few months, telling Cynthia "Alright, Cyn. He's a bit 'wacky', like me." After Christmas, in 1965, John was embarrassed to hear that Alf had made a record: "That's My Life (My Love and My Home)", released on 31 December 1965. John asked Epstein to do anything he could to stop it being released or becoming a hit. The record never made it into the charts. In 1966 "Freddie Lennon" (the name under which Alf recorded) tried again, and issued three singles with the group Loving Kind. These records did not sell well, either. Though the public at large quickly forgot these attempts to cash in on his son's success with the Beatles, the records do command fairly high prices among collectors of rare records, with "That's My Life" being worth over £50.