A Party:
Reece’s Café
9–13 Parker Street, Liverpool
23 August 1962
In July 1962 Cynthia realises she is pregnant. She suspects John will take it badly, so puts off telling him for several days. Eventually, she plucks up the courage. ‘As the news sank in he went pale and I saw the fear in his eyes. “There’s only one thing for it, Cyn,” he said. “We’ll have to get married.”’
She tells him he doesn’t have to; he insists he wants to. The next day, John tells Brian Epstein, who says he doesn’t have to go through with it. The Beatles have just signed their first recording contract, and Brian is worried the news will put the fans off. When John tells Aunt Mimi, she accuses Cynthia of wanting to trap him, and says she’ll have nothing to do with the wedding.
Recognising that John is serious, Brian takes charge, applying for the emergency licence and booking the register office for the first available date, in a fortnight’s time.
On 23 August, Brian, dapper in his pin-striped suit, picks up Cynthia from her bedsit. She is wearing a purple-and-black-checked two-piece suit over a frilly high-necked white blouse, with black shoes and a black bag. Brian takes her in a chauffeur-driven car to Mount Pleasant register office. On the way, he tells her she is looking lovely, and does his best to calm her nerves.
When they arrive, John, Paul and George are already pacing about in the waiting room, dressed in smart black suits. Cynthia thinks they all look ‘horribly nervous’. Cynthia’s brother Tony and his wife Marjorie are there too.
As the registrar begins to speak, a workman outside starts a pneumatic drill, but they struggle on. The ceremony takes a matter of minutes. They sign the register: John Winston Lennon, 21, Musician (Guitar) and Cynthia Powell, 22, Art Student (School). Now what? Brian suggests they all go to Reece’s, round the corner, for lunch. They opt for the cheaper café on the ground floor rather than the more expensive Famous Grill Room on the top floor.
The bride and groom and their five guests queue for soup, chicken and trifle. Alcohol is not available, so they all toast the happy couple with water. John has a look of pride. Cynthia is over the moon: ‘A full church wedding with all the extras couldn’t have made me happier.’
Brian presents them with a silver-plated ashtray, engraved with the message ‘Good luck JOHN & CYNTHIA. Brian, Paul & George 23 Aug 62’, as well as a shaving kit in a leather pouch embossed ‘JWL’, which John will take everywhere. The lunch – fifteen shillings a head – is on Brian, who also announces that he has a bolt-hole in Falkner Street where John and Cynthia can live for as long as they want. Cynthia is so excited that she gives him a hug. Brian looks embarrassed.
That night the Beatles have a gig in Chester, so Cynthia takes the opportunity to make the flat nice. At the gig, John appears out of sorts, losing his temper with the support act and yelling, ‘You’re doing all our fucking numbers!’ He doesn’t tell anyone that he’s just got married. Even the Beatles’ new drummer, Ringo, is kept in the dark.