Hard day’s night being the first wife of a Beatle

He was a scruffy Teddy Boy who would go on to rock superstardom and she was a shy girl from Hoylake.

John Lennon with his first wife Cynthia (centre), George Harrison and Ringo Starr (right) with his wife Maureen in 1968.

When a scruffy Teddy Boy art school student introduced himself to a rather posh looking fellow student, it was hardly a magic moment for either of them.

“Hi, I’m John” was all he said. Her name was Cynthia Powell, his was John Lennon. She was 18, from “across the water” in the nicer part of Liverpool at respectable middle class Hoylake. He 17, wore his hair like Elvis, came from the equally respectable middle-class suburb of Woolton, but postured as a bit of a working class rebel.

Although Lennon didn’t show any initial interest, the meeting would change Cynthia’s life. She went on to be better known as the first wife of a Beatle. But the marriage was a tempest within the greater storm of Beatlemania.

Cynthia, who died on April 1, would at times be treated cruelly by her famous husband. Cast aside when he fell for Japanese conceptual artist Yoko Ono, she found it hard to find herself after their divorce.

Born Cynthia Powell in Blackpool, Lancashire, in England, in 1939, her family later moved to Liverpool. German air attacks during the war compelled her father to move the family across the Mersey to Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula.

As a girl Cynthia enjoyed creating art. At 11 she won a newspaper art competition and later began to think of pursuing art as a career. Her father died of lung cancer in 1956 but, to save Cynthia having to get a job to support her mother, the family took in borders.

Cynthia began studying at the Liverpool College of Art in 1957.

At college she noticed John but wasn’t aware he was interested in her until one day he sang Ain’t She Sweet to her. She was drawn to him and even dyed her hair blonde after he made a comment about liking Bridget Bardot. They became a couple in 1958, but Lennon was often intensely jealous, smacking her in the head one night when she danced with his best friend Stuart Sutcliffe.

By then Cynthia was already sharing John with fans he made playing in bands.

In 1960 when Lennon formed a new band with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Sutcliffe she found him spending even less time with her.

That band became The Silver Beatles and later just The Beatles, sharpening their sound on tour in Hamburg. During Lennon’s increasingly frequent long periods away from his girlfriend, he and his band mates bedded prostitutes and female fans. John later described it as like a scene from Fellini’s film Satyricon about the debauchery of ancient Rome.

As the band’s popularity grew and a recording deal took them into the studio, the absences became even longer.

Cynthia became pregnant in 1962 and, despite his rebellious nature, Lennon’s middle class values kicked in and he offered straight away to marry her.

The wedding took place in a registry office in Liverpool and their son, Julian, was born in 1963.

Cynthia was fine with keeping the marriage quiet, preferring to stay out of the limelight. When news finally got out about the union she was swamped by the press and abused by fans.

Her one and only experience on tour with the band convinced her to stay at home.

As The Beatles became a global phenomenon, the marriage came under increasing strain.

John took to drugs with an almost religious fervour, which Cynthia hated. When the band headed off together to India in 1967 to spend time with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, newspapers captured the moment when John left Cynthia behind at a train station.

It was the sign of deepening rift. In 1966, he had met Yoko Ono and developed a fascination with her that led to an affair. The final straw was when Cynthia found them together in their home after she returned from a holiday in Greece.

The couple divorced in 1968 and John married Ono. Left alone to raise their son, Cynthia often struggled to get John to pay Julian any attention.

Cynthia also struggled at times to find her own identity beyond being a Beatle wife.

In 1978 she published A Twist Of Lennon about her time with the Beatle and there were other similar books over the years.

There would be other attempts at establishing herself, opening restaurants, selling perfume or selling her art, becoming a TV interviewer and even recording a single.

In the meantime she had two marriages and divorces after John, followed by a 17-year relationship with a chauffeur who became her manager. Her final marriage, to nightclub owner Noel Charles, lasted from 2002 until his death in 2013.

She is survived by her son Julian.

Originally published as Hard day’s night being the first wife of a Beatle