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Author Topic: Julia Baird's Book  (Read 7305 times)

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Bobber

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Julia Baird's Book
« on: January 23, 2007, 10:14:42 AM »

Julia Baird, John's halfsister, has written a book. It puts Aunt Mimi in a different light again, confirming Cynthia's book on that. And Yoko seems heartless towards John's family. The book's called: IMAGINE THIS: GROWING UP WITH MY BROTHER JOHN LENNON. Some info I found on the site of the Daily Mail:

New Lennon book disputes Beatles star's childhood

They sold more records, made more money and changed the face of stuffy Britain. With the success came all the trappings: the luxury homes, the groupies, the drugs, the divorces and the in-fighting. The Beatles experienced it all, and the most iconic and inventive of them, John Lennon, paid the ultimate price when he was gunned down by a deranged fan in New York in 1980.
Until now, the foundations of Lennon's artistic success and his torment have been laid at the door of one woman, his formidable Aunt Mimi, who brought him up instead of his promiscuous mother Julia, Mimi's younger sister.
Mimi enlisted the help of Liverpool social services to rule that Julia, who was "living in sin" in a cramped flat, was an unsuitable parent. She dubbed Julia's home "the House of Sin" and her own "the House of Correction". And although Julia lived only a short bus ride away from Mimi, for most of John
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harihead

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2007, 05:03:15 PM »

Good grief, how sad! Thanks for posting this, Bobber. I don't have to read the book now-- I think it would be too much to bear!

It's easy these days to see how wounded John was. To the young Beatles he was all brash and admirable irreverence, but he always struck me as broken in some profound way. George said, in Anthology I believe, that he didn't realize how messed up John was until he heard those primal scream recordings. I think as young people (and young fans-- all the world, actually) you just embrace people like John because he's so charasmatic and that's just the way he is. But I find watching some of those early videos painful. Yes, he's witty, but it seems the pain is always just under the surface. Poor John. *lights a candle for him*
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Kevin

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2007, 05:28:49 PM »

^I take it that's a press release from whoever is publishing this book. "his sister Julia writes sagely in the moving memoir." Where's me hanky?
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Bobber

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2007, 07:27:14 PM »

Quote from: 185
^I take it that's a press release from whoever is publishing this book. "his sister Julia writes sagely in the moving memoir." Where's me hanky?

Quote from: BOBBER
Some info I found on the site of the Daily Mail
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adamzero

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2007, 09:27:23 PM »

Definitely sounds like the press release.  But I liked the story.  Especially to find that ole Mimi had been wicked with her tenant.  Wonder if John knew?  "Imagine Mimi's been shagging . . ."
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Bobber

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2007, 01:11:06 PM »

The interview with JULIA BAIRD, broadcast yesterday by BBC Radio 2 on THE JOHNNIE WALKER SHOW, is now available online for the next seven days via the LISTEN AGAIN feature at the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/radio2/aod.shtml?radio2/r2_walker_sun
The interview starts at approximately 00:48:35, preceded by the song WOMAN.
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Revolution

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2007, 01:27:20 AM »

I ,too, read that John had a sad childhood. No wonder he acted like the way he did. Too afraid to get close to people / hurt. :'(
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Penny Lane

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2009, 12:58:48 AM »

Just bumping this up to ask if there are any more reviews for Julia's Imagine This, and also The Private John Lennon.  Are they any good, and how different are they from one another?  Thanks!
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7 of 13

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2011, 04:37:41 AM »

I ,too, read that John had a sad childhood. No wonder he acted like the way he did. Too afraid to get close to people / hurt. :'(
how sad. i could easily have idolized john my whole life, he seems so flying intelligent.
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Mairi

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2011, 04:45:02 PM »

Hasn't she also written another book? "My Brother, John Lennon", or something to that effect? I seem to remember owning it at some point.
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7 of 13

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2011, 06:46:16 PM »

oh i don't know. i do want to read them both.
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Jai Guru Deva.

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2011, 01:43:52 AM »

I bought "Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon", and I have to say, I did like it a lot.  I'm always wary of these types of books, often because the people writing them are too capable of overexaggerating and stretching the truth and all that.  But I liked both Julia's book and Cyn's "John" book, because once you've read them both, you can really start to appreciate John from multiple angles.  Cyn's book was very much about how John was as a lover and a hard-faced young man (NOT in a spiteful way, I might add, which was very refreshing), whereas Julia's was immersed in portraying John as a bubbly, charismatic child who slowly changed over time.  You can start to put the pieces together.
What I enjoyed about Julia's book was how she described her childhood and the relationships she had with people, not just John.  Occasionally it became a little scattered, but in that, I enjoy how the book isn't completely "John did this and John was that and I loved John and John and John..."  It put a lot of context behind him, and actually, learning about her early life and the way she lived gave you a deep and brilliantly strong background in your mind about what life was like in that era, how things were and how people felt, so that when John did appear in the story, it gave him a much larger power as a character - you felt as though you were too a child in that era, and in a way, the context put you far enough into the picture that you could almost expect what John's reaction would be to someone, or how he would act after something big occurred, and you'd be right too.
I enjoyed Julia's book more than I expected to - I picked it up because I had some spare time and I just wondered what another perspective of John would be, and it proved valuable to learning his character, and sometimes in the happier moments, quite wonderful really.

Phew!  What can I say?  I love John  :D

xxx
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Snoopy66

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2011, 08:36:08 AM »

Hi  :)

Me too, I liked the book of Julia Baird very much  8) Altough I was reluctant, I was positively surprised and would recommend this book to any fans of John. 

First I thought, oh well, I'll read nothing new about John, but I was wrong. In fact, I learnt a lot about the background of his childhood. It wasn't the usual storys with aunt Mimi which I read before in former bios, but the story of "little John" from a totally different view. Furthermore, it describes very well the complex relationship John had with his mother.

I must say that after having read this book I understand John's personality even better and therefore I love him even more than before  :D

Snoopy
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Normandie

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Re: Julia Baird's Book
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2021, 11:31:21 PM »



Hmm, well, 10 years on I'm happy to see the positive impressions of Julia's books. The Private John Lennon's been sitting on my shelves for awhile. I hadn't realized Julia had written a second book. If I ever find the first one among all the cartons, I'll definitely give it a read and see if I want to pursue Imagine This.

Anyone have any more recent opinions to offer?
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