Historical Figure
John Lennon
1940–1980
English musician and activist (1940–1980)
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Key Dates
Birth
1940 October 9, 1940 →Death
1980 December 8, 1980 →Biography
John Winston Ono Lennon was an English musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.
Timeline
John Lennon and Paul McCartney (The Beatles) first meet at St. Peter's Church garden fete in Liverpool, England.
July 6 →John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
July 6 →In an interview in the London Evening Standard, The Beatles' John Lennon declares that the band is "more popular than Jesus now".
March 4 →During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
March 25 →John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.
December 8 →John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the members of The Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism. He was shot by Mark David Chapman at the entrance to the building where he lived, The Dakota, in New York City on Monday 8 December 1980. Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono. Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. He was 40 years old. At the hospital, it was stated that nobody could have lived for more than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon's death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of the Dakota. Lennon was cremated on 10 December 1980 at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York; the ashes were given to Ono, who chose not to hold a funeral for him. The first media report of Lennon's death to a US national audience was announced by Howard Cosell, on ABC's Monday Night Football.
December 8 →Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
August 24 →More from the Interwar & WWII
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