John Lennon was crazy about cats. Over the years, he owned several, plus a few dogs. These are their stories.
Elvis
Growing up, Lennon had a cat named Elvis, who was owned by his beloved mother, Julia. Julia was worshiped by young John, and they were both crazy about Elvis Presley. The Lennons realized they had misnamed Elvis when “he” gave birth to a litter of kittens in the cupboard. But still the name of their favorite singer remained tagged to the new mother.
Tich and Sam
He had two other cats as a boy growing up in Liverpool: Tich and Sam. Tich passed away while Lennon was away at art school (which he attended from 1957 to 1960).
Tim
One day, John Lennon found a stray cat in the snow, which his Aunt Mimi allowed him to keep. (John’s beloved Aunt Mimi raised him from a young boy through his late teenage years.) He named the marmalade-colored half-Persian cat Tim.
Tim remained a special favorite of John. Every day, he would hop on his Raleigh bicycle and ride to Mr. Smith’s, the local fishmonger, where he would buy a few pieces of fish for Tim and his other cats.
As a famous Beatle, traveling all over the world, John would often call and check on how Tim was doing. Tim lived a happy life and survived to celebrate his 20th birthday.
(At left, Aunt Mimi holds Tim.)
Sally
As a teenager, John Lennon had just one dog, named Sally. It was reported that when Sally died, John was inconsolable; a witness said it was “the only time I ever saw John cry.”
Bernard
John later gave his first wife, Cynthia, a dog named Bernard as a gift. Bernard and Sally were to be John’s only two pet dogs.
Mimi and Babaghi
John and Cynthia also had a cat named Mimi who was, of course, named after his Aunt Mimi. They soon got another cat, a tabby, who they dubbed Babaghi. John and Cynthia continued acquiring more cats until they eventually owned around 10 of them.
(At left, Cynthia and John with one of their many cats.)
Jesus
As a Beatle, John had a cat named Jesus. The name may have been (or probably was) John’s sarcastic response to his “the Beatles are bigger than Jesus” controversy of 1966. (Paul McCartney also once owned a cat named Jesus, too.)
Major and Minor
In the mid-1970s, John had an affair with his secretary. One day she brought a box of stray kittens into the recording studio.
“No, no!” John immediately protested, “I know what you’re thinking! We can’t adopt them!” But she had John pick up the kittens, and then he couldn’t resist.
They adopted two of the kittens and named them Major and Minor.
Salt and Pepper
John also had two cats with his later wife, Yoko Ono. One was black, one was white. As befitting John’s offbeat sense of humor, he christened the white cat Pepper and the black one Salt.
(At left, Yoko and John with Salt.)
Alice
John’s Russian Blue cat named Alice, however, was his special favorite.
One day, Alice jumped out of an open window in the Lennons’ high-rise apartment at the Dakota and plunged to her death. Sean Lennon, John’s son, was present at the time of the accident. He remembers it as the only time he ever saw his father cry.
Misha, Sasha, and Charo
In later years, John also owned three cats he named Misha, Sasha, and Charo.
Always an artist at heart, John loved to sketch his many cats. He used some of the cats’ pictures as illustrations in his books.
(At left is one of his cat illustrations from Real Love: The Drawings for Sean.)
Eddie Deezen has appeared in over 30 motion pictures, including Grease, WarGames, 1941, and The Polar Express. He’s also been featured in several TV shows, including Magnum PI, The Facts of Life, and The Gong Show. And he’s done thousands of voice-overs for radio and cartoons, such as Dexter’s Laboratory and Family Guy.
Read all Eddie’s mental_floss stories.
Comments (20)
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John Lennon and cats…can’t get much better than that!
posted by A Scot Named Scott on 1-10-2012 at 6:11 pm
Martha and Jet aside, I never knew anything about Beatle pets. Thanks, Eddie. Always enjoy your stuff!
posted by Bill on 1-10-2012 at 7:08 pm
Eddie’s articles are great.
posted by Sara in AL on 1-10-2012 at 7:41 pm
A cool cat with cool cats…
posted by H.M.Marx on 1-11-2012 at 1:46 am
i have admittedly never been a huge Beatles fan (i certainly appreciate them as songwriters, but the music never did a whole lot for me.) but i’ve always got a special place for fellow cat-lovers, and i think that’s really cool that Lennon was one!
i also second Sara’s sentiment that Eddie writes some of the best articles on mental_floss!!!
posted by Cat MacKinnon on 1-11-2012 at 5:51 am
Love the photo of John with his black cat “Salt” on his shoulder. Great find, Eddie, and as always a terrific article!
posted by Barbie on 1-11-2012 at 5:53 am
Only 14 cats? pfft. We had more growing up. At one time, we had about 24, due to several litters being born at once.
About ten years ago, my sister offered me a pick of her stray’s litter. I got another cat from a friend right after, thinking they would keep each other company. I went from one to two to five to elev-no, wait, ten. Then started culling the herd. I had four for a while (after acquiring one more form the friend when they moved), then the first one died and two more vanished while I briefly stayed with my sister a few years back (scared away by big storm that flooded half the town?), leaving me one whiny annoyance at present.
posted by Brainlock on 1-11-2012 at 1:43 pm
I’ve had cats over many years. I had two cats named Misha and Sasha (both Siamese ) too. John and I could have been kindred spirits for that reason alone. You don’t find many men who like cats.
posted by Susan in NYC on 1-11-2012 at 3:14 pm
His secretary was May Pang, and it was more than an affair.
And that picture….sorry, Eddie, John never coloured his pictures, that was done posthum by his widow.
But it is worth reading, thank you so much!
Astrid
posted by Astrid on 1-11-2012 at 3:43 pm
cats. what’s not to like?
posted by gordon shumway on 1-11-2012 at 4:31 pm
Nice article. I would have passed it along but I have a problem with the title. To say John was a crazy cat lady is so disrespectful. It’s lame too. You couldn’t have come up with something better?
posted by Judie Tallman on 1-12-2012 at 10:51 am
Judie: The title is not disrespectful, but humorously affectionate..anyone with even a vague idea of his sense of humor (according to what we’re told about the man from people who knew him, anyway) would probably conclude that he would be amused.
posted by lynzi on 1-13-2012 at 5:58 pm
Also, thank you for this article – it really touched me on a lot of levels. These humanistic details seem to bring one a lot closer to understanding what Lennon must have been like as a human being (and of which remains sorely lacking in books that are written about his personal life, choosing instead to focus on sensationalism).
posted by lynzi on 1-13-2012 at 6:16 pm
Didn’t Paul McCartney give John a cat named Thisbe?
posted by lillyB on 1-13-2012 at 10:05 pm
Awesome, Lilly B! Whatever you can tell us about Thisbe I’d be interested to know.
There was another dog that John had when he was a boy. Like most kids, he was told that if he didn’t walk the dog enough the dog would be given away and like most kids he didn’t walk the dog as much as he was supposed to. Unlike most parents, Mimi wasn’t bluffing and John came home from school to find that she’d followed through with the threat to give the dog away. I’ve seen the story in two separate John Lennon biographies so it seems reputable.
posted by NicNac13c on 1-14-2012 at 12:33 am
Paul namedrops Mimi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijwI7wgXbxE
posted by NicNac13c on 1-14-2012 at 12:37 am
Was the “secretary” for Major and Minor, May Pang?
posted by billy shears on 1-16-2012 at 3:47 pm
My students have yet to figure out that if they attach cute pictures of cats to their assignments, I’ll be in a better mood when I’m grading them. LOL… I love kitties. My husband just rolls his eyes.
posted by Heather on 1-18-2012 at 4:19 pm
I knew John loved cats already,and it just confirms further what I always understood,John was a sensitive person and he wasn’t a bad person,just very mentally messed up for most of his life because of the traumas he had in his childhood and teens. But thanks to Yoko and their great love,he changed for the better!
posted by ilovecatstoo on 1-31-2012 at 6:52 am
Also, I had a gorgeous calico cat from the time I was 6 until I was 12 when we sadly had to give her away because she making on te furniture.She had a black face with a little white on her chin,and a little orange on her ear and her body had gorgeous orange,white and black. I always hated dogs,I have had even several small ones in the neighborhood chase me,and they always bark badly even from across the street!I was also bitten when I was 5 by my cousin’s little terrier Heidi.
posted by ilovecatstoo on 1-31-2012 at 6:55 am