John Lennon’s Glasses
Spectacles refusenik becomes ‘granny glasses’ brand ambassador
In his teens, John Lennon refused to wear spectacles in public. This gave his ‘resting’ face an intimidating intensity — something that Paul McCartney noticed even before they met (‘a ted with a hard stare’). It also lead to a comical Christmas incident, which Paul recounts here:
In Hamburg, The Beatles improved their stagecraft by watching the more experienced Tony Sheridan. Sheridan, a young man who could start a fight in an empty room, liked to glare at the audience. His stance encouraged John to put his myopia to good use. The ‘Lennon stare’ became a feature, even if it was softened with the occasional smile in the suited years.
By the mid Sixties The Beatles were weary of their clean cut public image. In Lennon’s case the disconnect was particularly acute and one aspect of this was having to stumble around in public without glasses. He was ready to come out.
The catalyst was a pair of spectacles required for his part in the film How I Won the War (1967). These were what the British used to call ‘NHS specs’ (state subsidised wire-framed ones with round lens).
When he was sixteen, John would not have been seen dead in NHS specs . Now they became part of his earnest new image: as a socially concerned college student. In fact, ‘John Lennon glasses’ became a popular fashion feature for aspiring intellectuals..
One thing that the teenage John Lennon could never have anticipated was that his hated eyewear would end up as prize exhibit in a museum.
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