Why John longed to be Jock Lennon
The coastal village of Durness lies on the north-west tip of Scotland, in one of the least populated parts of western Europe. The landscape is one of savage beauty, with strange black rocks jutting out of the white sand beaches of Sango Bay like gigantic rotten teeth biting the leaden sky. Overlooking the beach stands a sturdy white croft with a blue plaque that reads: 'John Lennon 1940-1980, Musician & Songwriter, lived here.'
It may seem a surprising claim - Lennon is most closely associated with Liverpool and New York - but from the age of nine to 14 he spent some of the happiest times of his life in this remote part of the Highlands when his family visited Durness on holiday.
It was an association that began when Lennon's maternal aunt remarried. Her new husband, a dentist named Bertie Sutherland, owned a house in the village. The young Lennon would visit his Scottish relatives with his cousin Stan Parkes, who today lives along the coast from Glasgow and vividly recalls those childhood holidays.
'John just loved the wildness and the openness of the place,' he said. 'We went fishing and hunting and John loved going up into the hills to draw or write poetry. John really loved hill walking, shooting and fishing. He used to catch salmon. He would have been quite a laird.'
In Durness today there are people who still remember the young Lennon. Donald Campbell is an extravagantly mustachioed man with snow-white whiskers. He stands outside the conservatory of his home and points to the neighbouring croft. 'That was the house Lennon would visit,' he said. 'I remember young John running out of those gates and all of us boys racing to the beach ... just standing here brings back memories of short trousers and grazed knees.'..
Read entire article at Observer (UK)
It may seem a surprising claim - Lennon is most closely associated with Liverpool and New York - but from the age of nine to 14 he spent some of the happiest times of his life in this remote part of the Highlands when his family visited Durness on holiday.
It was an association that began when Lennon's maternal aunt remarried. Her new husband, a dentist named Bertie Sutherland, owned a house in the village. The young Lennon would visit his Scottish relatives with his cousin Stan Parkes, who today lives along the coast from Glasgow and vividly recalls those childhood holidays.
'John just loved the wildness and the openness of the place,' he said. 'We went fishing and hunting and John loved going up into the hills to draw or write poetry. John really loved hill walking, shooting and fishing. He used to catch salmon. He would have been quite a laird.'
In Durness today there are people who still remember the young Lennon. Donald Campbell is an extravagantly mustachioed man with snow-white whiskers. He stands outside the conservatory of his home and points to the neighbouring croft. 'That was the house Lennon would visit,' he said. 'I remember young John running out of those gates and all of us boys racing to the beach ... just standing here brings back memories of short trousers and grazed knees.'..