The Beatles Legend’s Edinburgh Links Are Remembered On the 42nd Anniversary of The Assassination
The late “Fifth Beatle” Stuart Sutcliffe’s links to Edinburgh has long been widely known, while John Lennon’s ties to the Capital are considerably less known. The native of Liverpool visited the city frequently as a child, staying with his aunt and uncle in their Murrayfield terraced home before travelling up north to the Durness family cottage.
Lennon attended events even at the height of his celebrity, during the height of Beatlemania, and he spent time at his cousin Stan Parke’s home following a legendary Beatles performance at the ABC theatre in Edinburgh in 1964.
Parkes Recalls Lennon’s Love For Music Which He Often Showed In Edinburgh:
Parkes, about seven years Lennon’s senior, was more like a big brother to the future Beatle than a distant relative. In 1949, Stan moved from Liverpool to Edinburgh when his mother, John’s aunt’s mother, wed a Scottish dentist named Burt Sutherland.
The family resided in 15 Ormidale Terrace, a two-story Edwardian home in the upscale Murrayfield neighbourhood that still looks quite typical. John frequented Ormidale Terrace in 1957 when he was 17 years old. John would travel with Stan to Liverpool until his aunt Mimi determined he was old enough to take the bus upstairs. Even then, John had a natural knack for music and frequently played his aunt’s mother’s piano for the family.
Who had been left on the bus, Stan recalled: “One time he got off at St Andrew Square and played the harmonica and drove everyone crazy, but the bus driver had appreciated it and urged him to come back the next day as he had a top-of-the harp.” John, who frequently played it, couldn’t believe it. According to legend, Lennon used this harmonica to create the famous bluesy riff that served as the basis for the Beatles’ first song, Love Me Do.
Happy Childhood Memories of Both Cousins:
The two cousins were frequently spotted together exploring the town, going to the castle, or strolling the Arthur’s Seat hills. On other days, they went to Murrayfield for rugby or Poole’s Roxy theatre on Gorgie Road.
John stayed in the Scottish Capital for approximately a week before travelling north to the family’s croft in Durness, Sutherland. Visitors could go fishing, hunting, beachcombing, and exploring the untamed terrain; John also enjoyed painting it. When juxtaposed with the industrial fog and red brick sprawl it came from, it must have seemed like another cosmos.
Lennons’ Memories with His Wife in Edinburgh:
To acquaint his new bride Yoko with his family, John reportedly took her to Ormidale Terrace in 1969. The couple had a fantastic trip to the Scottish Capital and have been pictured multiple times taking family strolls in the city’s heart. John is infamous for getting binoculars from Lizars in Shandwick Place.
John Lennon’s Desire Could Not Fulfill Due To His Sudden Death:
Lennon, who was living in New York then, wrote to his cousin Stan in the late 1970s to convey his wish to own Ormidale Terrace 15, the location where he had so many happy memories over 25 years earlier. Sadly, it was not to be because John Lennon died suddenly and tragically 34 years ago this week.
What were John Lennon’s last words to paul mccartney?
Paul heard John say to Ultimate Classic Rock: “Think about me occasionally, old friend.” The song My Old Friend, which Carl Perkins was inspired to write after encountering Paul a few months after John passed away, contains his last words.
Who shot John Lennon and why did he do it?
25-year-old Mark David Chapman upended their tranquil home life on New York’s Upper West Side on December 8, 1980. Chapman was classified as borderline psychotic by psychiatrists. Despite being told to plead insanely, he chose to admit guilt of fired.
