Lennon began writing "Strawberry Fields Forever" in Almería, Spain, during the filming of Richard Lester's "How I Won the War" in September–October 1966. The Beatles had just retired from touring after one of the most difficult periods of the band's career, which included the "more popular than Jesus" controversy and being the target of mob violence in reaction to their unintentional snubbing of Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos. Working on Lester's film without his bandmates left Lennon feeling vulnerable and, according to his wife Cynthia, he was distraught to learn in late October that English singer Alma Cogan, whom "he'd earmarked to replace Aunt Mimi in his affections", had died in London at the age of 34. In the first versions that Lennon committed to tape, in September, there was no reference to Strawberry Field. Author Steve Turner says that at this stage, Lennon most likely drew inspiration from Nikos Kazantzakis's autobiographical novel "Report to Greco", which he was reading in Almería and "tells of a writer searching for spiritual meaning".