A Twist of Lennon (1978) -Cynthia Lennon

 

John (2005) -Cynthia Lennon

 

In My Life (1983) -Pete Shotton

    Cyn, Maureen, and Pattie developed a mutual closeness and understanding that almost paralleled that of the Beatles themselves. The odd woman out was Paul’s fiancé, Jane Asher, an aristocratic London redhead who seemed to feel that she was cut from somewhat finer cloth than the other Beatle ladies.

 

Postcards from the Boys (2004) -Ringo Starr

    St. George's Hill. I lived there until '69. John and I were both in St. George's Hill and George was in Esher and so the three of us were in the same area. Paul was the man about town at this time. He liked to take his dog for walks on Hampstead Heath and places like that. I mainly saw John in that period because we lived a couple of block from each other. We used to spend practically every weekend together. We'd edit 8mm film and have fun- sometimes hysterical fun. I'd walk home. John had Julian and I had Zak so we'd try to do the fatherly things. We'd try to do manly things too; we'd go to the pub and bring Maureen and Cynthia a Babycham or something- a real Liverpool attitude.   

    One Bonfire Night that we had at my place, John and I decided to show our kids (they must have been two and three) some fireworks. We went and bought all these fizzy ones. We'd smoke a lot of herbalized stuff so we didn't want anything really loud. We were doing this whole set up and sitting around, relaxing a little and we went outside to give the babies this big show and everything we bought just exploded! Exploded! What the kids must have thought, I don't know because the grown-ups were going 'Ow! Ow! Aaaagh!' We were so shocked we had to go back inside. And that's what makes our children what they are today.   

    On one holiday- Maureen, John, Cyn, and I went to Tobago and John had just got contact lenses and he dropped one; it came out in the swimming pool. We spent about three house in the pool looking for this damn contact! We didn't find it obviously.

 

John, Paul, George, Ringo, and Me: The Real Beatles Story (2005) -Tony Barrow

    The first wives of John, George, and Ringo got together at one another's houses on a regular basis, almost every day, when the group was away. Being married to members of the world's most famous pop group meant that there was an unique bond between the women. It was impossible for the rest of us to imagine what it was like to be envied by millions of near-hysterical love rivals including many who were fanatical enough to wish you serious harm, a painful death even. Cynthia and Maureen were the closest, partly because they were Liverpulians in exile and had this additional bond, but also because Pattie often bowed in and out of the circle to undertake modeling commitments. Jane Asher was a very occasional fourth participant but this was a country-based girlie group and townies like Paul and Jane didn't fit into the pattern. All three women were unashamedly fans of The Beatles and would often ring my office to find out about forthcoming tour or recording dates rather than pressing their partners for the details. When Cynthia, Maureen, and Pattie got together it was usually in the kitchen, for many cups of tea or coffee if it was middle of the day or several bottles of win if it was the afternoon. There were two main types of topic for discussion among this close-knit clique: family gossip that circulated solely within The Beatles' own tight inner circle and the wider issues that arose from sometimes scandalous rumors that was rife among the group's fans. I saw this group as the glue that helped to hold The Beatles' marriages together at least for the time being. To share happiness and sorrow, success and disappointment, was a good way of patching up the cracks as soon as they appeared. As part of such a warm and secure little group they felt more at ease than if they had been dealing with the traumas and crises of their extraordinary lives on their own. But for the sharing of imformation on the perks, pitfalls, problems, and sheer insanity of successfully partnering a Beatle, the womanfolk might have teetered on the brink of despair or simply broken free even sooner than they did. It is to their credit that these faithful first partners kept their lives so private over the years. The media would have agreed to almost any conditions to get their individual stories, but I was never allowed to fix any interviews or photo shoots for the women other than at general photo calls for show business functions or exclusive pictures to mark weddings and births.

   

    ...Both men (John and Paul) openly broke the Fab Four's rule that womenfolk should be barred from the studio along with all other non-essential visitors. It was a sensible policy with which Cynthia, Jane, Pattie, and Maureen had been content to comply. On occasions where some or all of them were going to socialize after work, the women would congregate in the West End club or restuarant and wait there to meet up with their men. This was not a problem and did not cause contention...

 

Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me (2007) -Pattie Boyd*

    I liked Cynthia, but of all the Beatle wives and girlfriends I found her the most difficult to make friends with. She and I came from such different backgrounds; she had no career, she was a young mother, and we had no point of reference apart from our attachment to a Beatle. She wasn't like my friends, who enjoyed a giggle and some fun: she was rather serious, and often, I thought, behaved more like John's mother than his wife. I tended to leave her to her own devices but invited her to join me for shopping. I think she felt a bit out of her depth in the smart, sophisticated circles in which the Beatles were now moving in London. And I don't think it helped that John thought I looked like Bridget Bardot, or that I got on so well with him. There was a rumor- I don't know where it came from- that John and I had an affair, and I suppose Cynthia may have believed there was something in it. It was completely untrue: we never had an affair. I wouldn't have dreamed of it and neither, I am sure, would John.   

    Ringo's girlfriend, Maureen Cox, was also from Liverpool. She was a fan whose dream had come true. She had started out as one of the hundreds of teenage girls who queued day after day at the Cavern to get close to the front of the stage for the best possible view of the Beatles and in the hope that they might catch the eye of one. Every fan had a favorite, and Ringo was hers. She wouldn't have called herself a fanatic- she would only queue, she said, for two or three hours while some girls were there all day- but she did run after Ringo in the street one day to get his autograph when she spotted him getting out of his car. She was seventeen, had just left school and was learning to be a hairdresser. Then, one day, it happened for her. Again, she and I had little in common but she was jolly and friendly, more relaxed than Cynthia. We got on but I felt there was definitely a north-south divide among the wives and girlfriends. And I had the definite impression that the girls from the north felt they had a prior claim to "the boys".