In December 2001, English Heritage placed one of their famous blue plaques on 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool.

This was the semi-detached suburban house, named ‘Mendips’, where John Lennon was reared between the years 1945-1963.

Lennon’s British relatives, who have remained in the background for so long, requested that Stan Parkes, John’s elder cousin, be the one to unveil the plaque.

In a moving speech, Stan said:

“Well, this is a very emotional day for me. I will tell you briefly how we became Liverpudlians.

“Our Great Great Grandparents and our Great Grandparents all hailed from North and South Wales. Our great Grandfather was born in a very historic little village in South Wales named Llantwit Major, his father was an innkeeper there – of the Kings Head Inn which still stands as an inn to this day.

“Our Great Grandmother, whose family were all farmers in North Wales, was born on the family farm of Berth-Y-Glyd, in the village of Llysfaen, just outside Llandudno.

“Somehow our great Grandfather gyrated to North Wales, they met and got married. They went to live in Chester, where our grandmother was born in the famous inn, the Bear and Billet in Lower Bridge Street, Chester.

“To further his career they moved over to Liverpool. A wealthy Welsh relative left our Great Grandmother a tidy sum of money, so she bought five or six little properties dotted all around where the Anglican Cathedral stands today. She rented these properties out and when they became vacant she would put our Grandmother into them to look after them until a new client could be found. Hence all our mothers – the five Stanley sisters, were all born at different addresses.

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