Frail Yoko Ono visits John Lennon’s childhood homes in Liverpool | Daily Mail Online
A frail-looking Yoko Ono was spotted visiting two of John Lennon’s childhood homes on Friday after traveling from her New York home to Liverpool.
The artist, who was married to Lennon from 1969 until his death in 1980, was in the city to open a museum show dedicated to their relationship, filled with exhibits from her own private collection.
While in Liverpool she visited Mendips, the home where Lennon spent most of his childhood, and took a photo of herself in his bedroom.
Yoko Ono visited Liverpool on Friday in order to open a new exhibition dedicated to her relationship with John Lennon before spending some time at two of his childhood homes, including Mendips (pictured)
Lennon moved to Mendips, at 251 Menlove Avenue, after his parents’ marriage broke down. Yoko bought the property in 2002 before donating it to the National Trust, which has restored it to how it would have looked while he lived there
Yoko leaves the Mendips home. Lennon’s teenage band The Quarrymen rehearsed here, as did The Beatles. An album released after Lennon’s death was named after the road on which it sits, called Menlove Avenue
The artist was heavily involved with the restoration project at Mendips, allegedly insisting that a series of creaky steps at the top of the stairs remained, as she recalled Lennon saying he had to sneak over them while returning home from gigs
Yoko has visited the Mendips property at least twice before, once shortly after acquiring it in 2002, and a second time in 2010 when she also went to Dovedale School, which Lennon attended
Uploading the photo to Instagram, she wrote: ‘This is John’s room in Menlove Avenue. I feel John here with me…I love you John. Yoko.’
She previously owned the property, having bought it at auction in 2002 before donating it to the National Trust, which now preserves it.
Yoko was also seen leaving Lennon’s earliest home, at 9 Newcastle Road, which she bought at auction in 2013 for more than three times the asking price, according to Breitbart.
The site reports that the same decorating team that renovated the Mendips home were spotted at the Newcastle Road property after it was purchased.
Lennon lived at Newcastle Road from his birth until age five, when the breakdown of his parents’ marriage saw him move to Mendips to live with his Aunt Mimi.
Newcastle Road is just a few yards from Penny Lane, which inspired one of The Beatles most famous songs, while Mendips is where the band had some of their earliest rehearsals.
After visiting Mendips, Yoko uploaded this image of herself inside Lennon’s old bedroom to Instagram with the caption: ‘I feel John here with me…I love you John. Yoko’
Yoko was also seen leaving Lennon’s earliest home at 9 Newcastle Road, where he lived from birth until age five. It is believed to be the first time that she has visited the property
The Newcastle Road home was sold at auction in 2013 for more than three times the £150,000 asking price with Yoko reported to have been the buyer, though that has never been confirmed
Yoko leaves the house at 9 Newcastle Road. The property is just a short distance from Penny Lane, which inspired one of The Beatles most famous songs
Lennon met Yoko at a London gallery opening of her work in 1966 and the pair married in 1969. Less than a year later, The Beatles broke up, with many pointing the finger at her. They were married until Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980
The exhibition to Yoko and Lennon, entitled Double Fantasy – John and Yoko, is being displayed at the Museum of Liverpool until April next year.
Included in the items on display are Lennon’s iconic wire-framed glasses, a rare Sardonyx guitar used by Lennon on the album Double Fantasy, and artwork made by the pair.
Yoko Lennon said: ‘I am so happy and grateful that we are having our Double Fantasy -John & Yoko show in Liverpool.
‘This is where John was born and I know John would be very happy too.
‘We were a very simple couple just loving each other every day and I just wanted to show the simple truth of us.
‘In our personal life we were pretty simple people, and we made all sorts of things with love for each other. Everything was made out of love.
‘We found that we were both very strongly interested in world peace. I feel John and I are still working together. I always feel his warmth next to me.’
Yoko visited Liverpool museum in order to open the exhibition to her late husband, which is filled with items from their life
Included in the collection is the green card that allowed Lennon to live permanently in America, where he was killed
The Daily Howl (left) was a satirical magazine that Lennon made in 1957 when he was 17 and features in the exhibition. Right is an artwork called Painting to Hammer a Nail, which was displayed at the 1966 show were she met Lennon
Also on show is the white skirt that Yoko wore on her wedding day in 1969 and the blazer worn by Lennon
Pages from Yoko’s ‘conceptual art’ book Grapefruit, which contained instructions for works that others could chose to enact. It was published in 1964 and she gifted it to Lennon in 1966
Source: Frail Yoko Ono visits John Lennon’s childhood homes in Liverpool | Daily Mail Online
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