John Winston Lennon was born on 9 October 1940 in the Liverpool Maternity Hospital, Oxford Street, Liverpool, to Julia Lennon (née Stanley) and Alfred “ “Freddie” Lennon.
John was named after his paternal grandfather, John ‘Jack’ Lennon, and British prime minister Winston Churchill. His father Alf wasn’t present at the birth as he was away at sea with the Merchant Navy.
John Lennon's little-known Welsh roots were revealed 25 years after the former Beatle was gunned down by a deranged fan.
Television researchers, with the help of a Merseyside fiction crime writer, managed to trace Lennon's family tree to a North Wales farm.
In a hour-long S4C documentary, simply called Lennon, new light was shone on the Liverpool-born music legend's roots, suggesting he had strong Welsh ancestry.
The makers talked to the Beatles' first manager Allan Williams, Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono and Ron Ellis, a Merseyside-based author who carried out 192 interviews for a best-selling book about the singer in the 1980s.
Ellis was able to pass on vital information about the star's Welsh roots to S4C.
The programme traced Lennon's great-grandfather, George Millward, a solicitors clerk to the Earl of Shrewsbury.
He married farmer's daughter Mary Elizabeth of Berth y Glyd, Llysfaen, near Colwyn Bay.
Their daughter Annie married George Stanley and they had five daughters, including Julia, who met and wed Alfred Lennon.
Their son was John Lennon. A programme spokeswoman said: "It is a fascinating documentary and goes into detail about Lennon's links with Wales from the early 19th century."
Mr Ellis said: "As well as the farm at Llysfaen another of his ancestors, a John Millward, had a pub in Llantwit Major.
Wales featured heavily in the life of John Lennon and the Beatles.
Cardiff’s Capitol Cinema in December 1965 was to prove a momentous date for the Beatles as it would be their last paying live UK performance – the band could barely hear themselves play over the sound of all the screaming. if one classic story is to be believed, Ringo turned to the others after the gig had finished and said, "I thought Hard Day’s Night went well."
"We didn't do Hard Day’s Night," said Lennon, to which Ringo replied, "Well, I did."
The hysteria that followed The Beatles around was felt in such places as Abergavenny Town Hall Ballroom, which local promoter Eddie Tattersall had secured for the tiny fee of £250 in 1963, having luckily booked them just before they hit the big time.
However, in the run up to the show, John Lennon had been double-booked with an appearance on the BBC’s Jukebox Jury, leaving manager Brian Epstein to arrange a helicopter - at a cost of more than £100 - to take him from Battersea Heliport in London to Penypound Football Ground in order to make the gig.
Prior to embarking on a motoring holiday in Scotland, John Lennon and Yoko Ono paid a quick visit to Wales. They drove to Tywyn, a seaside resort on the Cardigan Bay, on the west coast of Wales. With them were Lennon’s six-year-old son Julian and Ono’s five-year-old daughter Kyoko Cox. They are pictured here in the rear garden of the Corbett Arms Hotel.
The visit was just days before the investiture ceremony held at Caernarfon Castle in north Wales for Charles, Prince of Wales, which took place on 1 July 1969.
The tourists sent a postcard, bearing the image of the 20-year-old prince, to Ringo Starr and his family, c/o Peter Brown at the Apple offices at 3 Savile Row, London. It contained the simple message: “Hello”.
The postcard, bearing the postmark of Tywyn and dated 23 June 1969, was included in Starr’s 2004 book Postcards From The Boys.
