Tesco Manager Janet Small of Chepstow in South Wales says that she is the long lost half sister of former Sex Pistol John Lydon. The fifty one year old says that they share a mother, Eileen, who gave her daughter up for adoption before she married Lydon's father John. Small, who has recently taken advantage of changes in adoption laws to trace her family, says that several other members of the Lydon family, including John Lydon senior, have accepted her claim, but thus far the punk/jungle star has declined to comment on the news. Mrs Small said: "It was a shock to find he was famous. I realised straightaway it was going to make things much harder."
Small says that Eileen kept the fact of her eldest child a secret, and died in 1978 without ever revealing the truth to those close to her. On her own childhood, the mother of two explained how she was brought up in the east end of London probably within a few miles of her four younger half-brothers. She also adds that she had no time for the scene her alleged half-brother spearheaded: "I hated punk," she said "I was sent to convent school so I suppose I was a bit of snob. I always thought [punk rockers] were so ill-mannered. Their music never appealed to me. I was a big Queen fan and was into Tamla Motown."
Janet Small says she appreciates that people might be suspicious of her motives, but says "when you are adopted, you want to search out your missing links. It's about the whole of the family. They all have a right to know that I exist."