<p id=”par-1_62″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/john-lennon/”>John Lennon</a> spent most of his childhood estranged from his father. By the time Lennon had risen to fame with <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/the-beatles/”>The Beatles</a>, he’d gone two decades without seeing the man. This changed in 1965 when Lennon’s father, Alfred Lennon, knocked on his front door. According to Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, her husband was angry, embarrassed, and ill at ease throughout the visit. </p>
<h2 id=”h-john-lennon-s-estranged-father-dropped-in-on-him-after-years-apart”>John Lennon’s estranged father dropped in on him after years apart</h2>
<p id=”par-2_28″>In 1965, Alfred Lennon met a man who had occasionally driven The Beatles. He agreed to take Alfred to Lennon’s home, where a bewildered Cynthia answered the door. </p>
<p id=”par-3_54″>“He was a charmer in his own way,” Cynthia said in the book<em> <a href=”https://www.amazon.com/Lennon-Definitive-Biography-Ray-Coleman/dp/0060986085″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Lennon: The Definitive Biography</a> </em>by Ray Coleman. “There was no way I could have shut the door on him. He looked like a tramp but he was John’s Dad. I had no alternative but to ask him to wait for John to return.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_12″>Lennon was astonished by his father’s arrival, but he quickly addressed him.</p>
<p id=”par-5_12″>“Where have <em>you </em>been for the last twenty years?” he asked his father coldly.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” loading=”lazy” width=”1200″ height=”873″ src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?strip=all&quality=89″ alt=”A black and white picture of Alfred Lennon washing a dish in a sink. He wears an apron.” class=”wp-image-3557650″ srcset=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg 1200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=640&h=466 640w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=768&h=559 768w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=1024&h=745 1024w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=481&h=350 481w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=232&h=169 232w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=200&h=146 200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=697&h=507 697w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=82&h=60 82w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Alfred-Lennon.jpg?w=150&h=109 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Alfred Lennon | J. R. Watkins/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-6_29″>Alfred did little to lighten Lennon’s demeanor. Cynthia said she watched her husband grow increasingly uncomfortable as Alfred spoke about his financial troubles while sitting in the lavish home. </p>
<p id=”par-7_38″>“He was so embarrassed,” Cynthia said, noting, “He was in and out of the room like a cat on a hot tin roof. He was nervous and said he suddenly felt ill at ease in his own home.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_14″>According to Cynthia, it was quite clear that Alfred was there looking for money.</p>
<p id=”par-9_24″>“I suppose Fred was proud of what John had achieved,” she said, “but his main object was to rip off some cash from John.”</p>
<h2>John Lennon’s father spoke about his son being a disappointment</h2>
<p id=”par-10_43″>Alfred stayed at Lennon’s house for several days, but their relationship never fully repaired itself. Lennon stayed away, leaving Cynthia to talk to Alfred. When the father and son did speak, their conversations devolved into arguments about why Alfred and Lennon’s mother separated. </p>
<p id=”par-11_11″>Later, Alfred spoke publicly about the ways in which <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennons-estranged-father-shared-musician-disappointed.html/”>Lennon disappointed him</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-12_28″>“He’s only let me down twice,” Fred said, per <a href=”https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beatles-hunter-davies/1122972012″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”><em>The Beatles: The Authorized Biography</em></a> by Hunter Davies. “Once was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-said-daft-queen-gave-beatles-mbes.html/”>accepting that MBE</a>. I wouldn’t have done it. Royalty can’t buy me.”</p>
<p id=”par-13_34″>He added that he also felt disappointed that Lennon <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-booed-event-guest-honor.html/”>hadn’t given a speech</a> at a literary luncheon in his honor. Alfred said that in his place, he would have given a speech and performed a song.</p>
<h2>Alfred Lennon worried his son would cause his death</h2>
<p id=”par-14_44″>Lennon and his father maintained a relationship for the next several years. Their final meeting took place on Lennon’s 30th birthday, and the two got into such a vicious argument that they cut ties. Alfred left the meeting genuinely concerned that <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennons-dad-worried-lennon-kill-final-meeting.html/”>Lennon would kill him</a>.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” loading=”lazy” width=”1200″ height=”947″ src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?strip=all&quality=89″ alt=”A black and white picture of Alfred Lennon laying on a bench and holding a cigarette in one hand.” class=”wp-image-3557652″ srcset=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg 1200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=634&h=500 634w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=768&h=606 768w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=1024&h=808 1024w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=444&h=350 444w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=214&h=169 214w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=200&h=158 200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=642&h=507 642w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=76&h=60 76w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John-Lennon-dad.jpg?w=150&h=118 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Alfred Lennon | John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-15_84″>“There was no doubt whatsoever in my mind, that he meant every word he spoke, his countenance was frightful to behold, as he explained in detail, how I would be carried out to sea and dumped, ‘twenty — Fifty — or perhaps you would prefer a hundred fathoms deep,’” Alfred wrote in a letter to his lawyer, per the book <em><a href=”https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/john-lennon-philip-norman/1100555558″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>John Lennon: The Life</a></em> by Philip Norman. “The whole loathesome tirade was uttered with malignant glee, as though he were actually participating in the terrible deed.”</p>
<p id=”par-16_18″>He explained to his lawyer that if anything bad happened to him, the police should investigate his son.</p>