John Lennon's Mother Was Killed by an Off-Duty Policeman
Though John Lennon’s mother wasn’t around for much of his childhood, they’d become close in his teen years. He was in a band called the Quarrymen (along with Paul McCartney) at the time of his mother’s death. Just months prior, he had told McCartney: “How can you sit there and act normal with your mother dead? If anything like that happened to me, I’d go off me head.” Then Julia Lennon was hit by a car driven by an off-duty police officer. After that, Lennon did all but lose his head. In 1958, Lennon was still living mostly with his Aunt Mimi, but staying at his mother’s house sometimes as well. One evening when John was out with a friend, Julia came over to her sister’s for dinner. She left to catch the bus around twilight. At the same time, John’s friend Nigel Whalley made his way over to Mimi’s to see if his friend was there. He ran into Julia just outside of Mimi’s and the two chatted for a bit. They said goodbye and Julia started for the bus again. When she was about 200 yards from her sister’s house, she was hit by a car.
Source: Kelsey Goeres/cheatsheet.com
