John Lennon's Letters
A handwritten letter is a treasured thing - especially when the author is John Lennon.
"The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you." John Lennon might have been dead for over 40 years but everyone still wants a piece of him, and come October 2012 they can. The late musician's widow Yoko Ono has agreed for the first time to assist in compiling a collection of John Lennon's previously unpublished letters and postcards.
The correspondence will be reproduced in chronological order and in Lennon's exact handwriting - complete with the doodles he scribbled in the margins of his pages. The lyrical mastermind began compiling his own stories, poetry, cartoons and caricatures from an early age in a school exercise book that he called The Daily Howl. The book in question, which will be edited by official Beatles biographer Hunter Davies, will probably reach a more widespread audience than The Daily Howl but it will hopefully be equally expressive.
The publishers have announced that they have tracked down around 200 leters so far, however there are plenty more still in the hands of friends or family members. Those lucky enough to possess original correspondence from one half of the most successful songwriting partnerships in history are being urged to send them through to [email protected]. Lennon himself, on the other hand, never sent an email in his life - maybe he was just super cautious of slightly dodgy-looking email addresses.
Either way, a hand-written letter or a hastily penciled postcard is a rare commodity in an age where there's probably an iPhone app that can scribble one for you. 40 years after the legend's death such a book is bound to be more eagerly anticipated than ever.
Words: Hannah Ongley
