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00:03You can be big-headed and say, yeah, we're going to last 10 years, but as soon as you've said
00:07that, you think, you know, we're lucky if we last three months, you know.
00:12I suppose one of the things you associate with fame is this weird sort of tension between all the adulation
00:18and success and the essential loneliness of your position, right?
00:23And I think this picture really encapsulates that.
00:26I think he's too wrapped up in what he's going through to even notice the photographer or the click of
00:32the shutter.
00:38The main thing I think about when I see this picture is just how happy Chan looks, you know, just
00:42how big his smile was.
00:47There's quite a lot of unpacking that needed to be done here.
00:51He was looking for something else all the time, searching for something.
00:59This guy is a rebel.
01:01It was scary, you know, because the FBI was everywhere.
01:08John does think he's got a unique view on the world, but he doesn't think he's going to become world
01:14famous.
01:19John had a lot of baggage, and Yoko just took care of the noise of the world around him.
01:24She just stepped into that void and stood out in front.
01:29Oh, gosh.
01:31Married bliss, that was.
01:32I love this.
01:35Because he's so honest, he sort of affirms the fact that there might be no such thing as superstars or
01:41icons, you know, everyone's a human being.
01:56My name is Mark Lewison, and I'm a writer, and I've come to specialise in writing about the Beatles.
02:02It's a subject that I've studied pretty much all my life.
02:06So I've been researching John's life since I was a teenager, really.
02:11I've been trying to understand and make sense of it, and also to try to ensure that it's actually got
02:16right and not got wrong.
02:22Well, this is summer of 1949 in Rock Ferry, which is over the water from Liverpool, across the other side
02:31of the Mersey.
02:31It's at a house of John's aunt.
02:34It's a family gathering, and this is actually the only known photograph of John Lennon with his mother, Julia.
02:46He's squinting into the sunlight, and she's tickling him under both his arms to make him laugh for the camera,
02:53I suppose.
02:53And it's just a snap, but because it's the only picture we have of the two of them, it's a
03:00very precious photograph.
03:03Obviously, particularly for John.
03:05Are you sitting comfortably?
03:07Then I'll begin.
03:19John Lennon was born in Liverpool, a city traumatised by the devastating impact of the Second World War.
03:30It's that immediate post-war period, you know, there's still rationing going on.
03:35It was always said he was born during an air raid.
03:37In fact, there were sirens, but I don't think there was actually a raid.
03:40But the bombs were dropping on Liverpool.
03:42Liverpool was very badly damaged.
03:44His parents, Julia Standy, as she was, and Alfred Lennon, never had a conventional marriage.
03:50They were unconventional people in every way, and their marriage was certainly part of that.
03:55They had this child, but Alf Lennon was off at sea.
03:58He was a merchant seaman.
04:00So Julia did raise John, but she continued to lead a lifestyle that was that of a single woman.
04:10So her eldest sister, Mimi, said, I'll take John.
04:14You can still see him, but I think it'll be easier all round if I take him.
04:19So John went off to live with his auntie, Mimi.
04:22And from then on, he only saw his mother occasionally until he was a teenager.
04:26But this is one of those occasions.
04:29He didn't understand fully, and I suppose possibly he wasn't really told,
04:34why he had been, in a sense, handed over to his auntie to be raised.
04:39And there's no doubt about it that this cut deeply.
04:54I just happened to be looking through Mum's neck curtains.
04:58And I see this bloke walking along, and I thought, looks a bit cool.
05:02He's got side-ease.
05:05Oh, no.
05:05Hair slicked back into a DA, a duck's arse.
05:12He's got skin-tight trainees on.
05:15This guy is a rebel.
05:17And that's the first time I met John Lennon.
05:33John's aunt Mimi ensured that he went to grammar school.
05:37But he never excelled in the classroom.
05:39His real passion was music, an obsession he discovered as a teenager
05:45and shared with a circle of friends, including George Harrison and Paul McCartney.
05:50They practiced in each other's houses and played in public whenever they could.
05:56I am 77 years of age and have come here to talk to you about a photograph of what I
06:05took
06:05and about an old mate of mine called John Lennon.
06:12This was my cousin Ian and Jackie's wedding in Heighton, Liverpool.
06:18So this was like a joyous occasion where they were allowed to put on their jacket,
06:23shirt and tie, look good.
06:26And so it captures a moment in time of hope, of innocence.
06:32Snap.
06:35What do you yourself feel about rock and roll, son?
06:39Well, of course, I've only seen it on television.
06:43John and his friends had become infatuated by American rock and roll,
06:48an antidote to the downbeat mood of post-war austerity.
06:53Britain had its own similarly exciting new sound known as skiffle.
06:59This image here is from an era when there was no chance, no hope.
07:07But then this thing called skiffle came along and it was this thing.
07:12What?
07:12You can have a band and therefore you could create this other world.
07:19So that's all this photograph is, a young man wanting to play his guitar
07:26and then joining our kid and they found that they played very well together.
07:31And so this is the positive days, the going to be bigger than Elvis days.
07:37We're all stunned.
07:38No chance.
07:39You're going to, you're Jeremy Elvis.
07:41Oh, I.
07:43At 16, John Lennon enrolled at art college.
07:47Elvis and American rock and roll seemed a world away.
07:52I'd like to play the song which brought me into this whole thing, good or bad.
07:58But Britain had skiffle and John Lennon's personal hero, Lonnie Donegan.
08:09First day at art school, going to our first painting class.
08:13Before I walked in the door, this strange looking scruffish, Tony Curtis, big quiff,
08:20came towards me like this and said,
08:23Hey, are you the girl that painted Lonnie Donegan?
08:26And I said, yes, why?
08:29He said, because if you are, I'm going to be your mate for life.
08:33And it was because when I've just finished at Liverpool Junior Art School,
08:38I had a commission to paint a portrait of Lonnie Donegan.
08:42I was only 16.
08:43Lonnie Donegan was a big hero for John.
08:46And so we became close friends.
08:48On the rock and roll night
08:58He said, I've got this friend at the school next door, Paul McCartney,
09:01that we play together, and George.
09:04Will you get a gang together to come and listen to us
09:07if we sneak into one of these rooms at lunchtime and we can practice?
09:10So Paul and George used to come in with a packet of chips and John,
09:16and they were absolutely amazing.
09:18And this boy that looked so out of place with all the rest of us in there,
09:23he impressed me more than anybody did at the time.
09:29John Lennon's love of rock and roll gave him a sense of identity.
09:35It also rekindled his relationship with his mother, Julia.
09:42From his mid-teens onwards,
09:44he kind of formed a much closer relationship with her.
09:47In his teenage years, Julia taught him to play the banjo.
09:52So they became closer,
09:53and in fact, when rock and roll happened,
09:56she was an Elvis fan.
09:58So John could go there and talk about Elvis,
10:01and she could teach him the chords to songs.
10:04And right there in the midst of that period of time
10:09when John is suddenly really becoming closer to his mother,
10:14she was run down and killed
10:17in a car accident on the street
10:19right outside the house that John was living in with his Aunt Mimi.
10:24In fact, from John's bedroom window,
10:27he would always be able to look down on the spot
10:28where his mother had been run down and killed.
10:32And he was wrecked.
10:36He was a deep thinker, but he hid himself to people.
10:39He never confided very much,
10:41even when his mother died.
10:44He hardly spoke to anybody about it.
10:47He just got on with it,
10:48but he became slightly aggressive after that, I think.
10:52He was a very deep thinker.
10:53He was looking for something else all the time,
10:56searching for something.
11:01As rock and roll emerged
11:03as a vital cultural and commercial force,
11:06there was no shortage of clean-cut young men
11:09dreaming of becoming the next teen idol.
11:13There's Ron Wycherley, 17,
11:16known to his fans as Billy Fury,
11:18Roy Taylor, 18,
11:20alias Vince Eager,
11:22John Askew, or Johnny Gentle,
11:26and Duffy Power,
11:28real name Raymond Howard, 17,
11:31all in the lucrative business,
11:33as someone said,
11:34of putting teenage growing pains to music.
11:38John and his friends
11:39also dreamt of making it big in rock and roll.
11:43They performed in and around Liverpool
11:46and were spotted by an agent booking bands
11:49to play in the clubs of Hamburg, Germany,
11:52a port city with a vibrant music scene.
11:59I've brought this to let you see it
12:01because it is absolutely incredible.
12:03I've got a huge collection of Beatles memorabilia
12:06and this is one of my proudest possessions.
12:09This is a photograph taken of John in 1960 by Astrid Kirchner.
12:20I interviewed her in 1967
12:22and she had no money.
12:24She was working in a lesbian club in Hamburg
12:27and I interviewed her
12:28and I got a whole story of how she came to meet the Beatles
12:32and she was sitting on these photographs,
12:35which are now world famous.
12:36And so she signed it to me,
12:39Astrid Kirchner,
12:41to my dear old, cheeky thing,
12:44friend, Hunter,
12:45with lots of love.
12:46I actually think the photographs that she took
12:49are the best photographs ever, ever,
12:52of the Beatles.
13:07So this is a print by Astrid
13:10and it's technically a brilliant photograph
13:13because she had studied photography
13:17at Hamburg School of Art.
13:19So John is beautifully lit
13:21and John is trying to look hard.
13:26He's trying to look like a rock and roller
13:28and he's still got his teddy boy haircut.
13:33I can just imagine him brushing it back
13:36and he pulls his leather jacket up
13:39and looks cool
13:40and in the background
13:41she's cleverly staged Stuart Sutcliffe
13:45holding his guitar
13:46and Stuart is moody in the background.
13:52In November 1960,
13:55John Lennon was photographed
13:57in a deserted fairground in Hamburg.
14:00He was there with his band,
14:02a bunch of young rock and rollers
14:04now called the Beatles.
14:06John was the leader of the Beatles,
14:09they were called the Beatles then.
14:10They had Paul and they had George,
14:13who were really good musicians.
14:15They didn't have a drummer all the time,
14:17but they got Pete Best
14:18and they talked Stuart Sutcliffe,
14:21John's best friend,
14:22into playing guitar
14:23and they talked him into coming with them.
14:25We're getting money.
14:26We're going to play in a club.
14:27It's Hamburg
14:28and we've got Diggs.
14:32The Beatles' first visit to Hamburg
14:34lasted almost four months.
14:37They played daily,
14:39performing long sets
14:40in various clubs
14:41in the city's red light district.
14:43It was the first of several trips
14:45over the course of two years.
14:49It was a big stage in their development
14:51because they were working full-time.
14:54They meet a different sort of fan base.
14:57They used to call Astrid and her chums,
15:01the X's.
15:02That was short for existentialists.
15:04So they'd never really met
15:06these sort of people.
15:08They'd never had this full-time
15:09playing and living together.
15:12But really the biggest single thing
15:14about Hamburg
15:14was they improved as musicians.
15:17They were playing music night and day.
15:20They were often playing
15:21for 10 hours at a time.
15:22So it was in Hamburg
15:24they found their voice.
15:31So at this stage in his life,
15:32John does think he's got
15:35a unique talent
15:36and a unique view on the world
15:39but he doesn't know
15:41what form it's going to take.
15:43John thought he could never
15:44get a conventional job.
15:47So he was thrilled
15:48to be playing in a group
15:49which he was the leader of
15:51and they were getting paid.
15:52But he doesn't think
15:53he's going to become world famous.
15:57We went back to Liverpool
15:59and got quite a few bookings.
16:01They all thought we were German.
16:02We were builders from Hamburg
16:04and they all said
16:04you speak good English.
16:06Things like that.
16:09The story of the Beatles' meteoric rise to fame
16:13following their rock and roll apprenticeship
16:15in Hamburg is well known.
16:19Put simply,
16:21John's band,
16:22now with a full-time drummer
16:23called Ringo Starr,
16:25got very big,
16:26very quickly.
16:28After releasing their first hit
16:30Love Me Do in 1962,
16:32they attracted a fanatical following,
16:35the intensity of which
16:37had never been seen before.
16:39Their devoted fans
16:40wanted to know everything
16:42about their lives.
16:44But there was one thing
16:45that few of his teenage admirers
16:47knew about John Lennon's life.
16:50Did you ever have a chance,
16:51John,
16:52to just get away on your own
16:54without anybody recognising you?
16:55We borrowed a couple
16:56of millionaires' houses,
16:57you know.
16:58Well,
16:59you could have bought
17:00a couple of millionaires' houses,
17:02couldn't you?
17:02No.
17:03Yeah,
17:03we'd sooner borrow them,
17:04it's cheaper.
17:05And we did a bit of water skiing,
17:07well,
17:07sort of.
17:08Yeah,
17:08we had a great time.
17:09Did your wife enjoy it over there?
17:11She loved it.
17:12Who?
17:12Who?
17:13Don't tell him he's married.
17:15It's a secret.
17:15Oh,
17:16I'm sorry.
17:16I'm sorry about that.
17:17I didn't mean to.
17:18What about the taste of the fans?
17:23Oh,
17:24gosh.
17:25My old friends.
17:27I love this.
17:30Here's Cynthia with the mop.
17:33John actually holding a garden tool.
17:36John that's never,
17:37never pulled a weed out
17:39in his life
17:40in Auntie's garden,
17:41you know.
17:42He's got that smirk
17:44on his face.
17:45And little Julian,
17:47all sweet,
17:48sitting on Sin's knee
17:49with a jam tart,
17:51I think it is.
17:53And that's such a happy photograph of them.
17:55They were so thrilled
17:57when they found that house.
18:00Oh,
18:00married bliss that was.
18:02That's what Cynthia was dreaming of.
18:04A beautiful house in the country
18:07where she could eventually
18:08go back to her painting
18:10and John would go back
18:11to his writing
18:12and drawing
18:13and everything else
18:14and they wouldn't need money
18:15to live on
18:15because they'd made it
18:16in five years
18:17with the Beatles, you see.
18:18She thought,
18:19you know,
18:20this is a five-year phenomenon
18:22and in five years,
18:23you know,
18:23we'll have our own life back again.
18:26People demand that you think,
18:27how long are you going to last?
18:29Well, you can't say, you know.
18:30You can be big-headed
18:31and say,
18:32yeah, we're going to last 10 years
18:33but as soon as you've said that,
18:35you think,
18:36you know,
18:36we're lucky
18:36if we last three months,
18:37you know.
18:56In July 1964,
18:58John Lennon bought a large house
19:00in the Surrey countryside.
19:03He moved in
19:04with his wife, Cynthia,
19:06and their son, Julian.
19:09I went there
19:10just after they'd moved in, actually.
19:12I think they wanted something grand
19:14and something to spend
19:16all the money on, really.
19:17They'd made so much money
19:18they didn't know what to do with it.
19:19So John said,
19:21you know,
19:21we need a grand house
19:22to put the grand cars
19:23in the front of.
19:26He was delighted with it.
19:28Look at all these rooms
19:29and I've got the smallest one
19:30to play my guitar upstairs.
19:37John and Cynthia
19:38had been together
19:39for five years.
19:40They had met
19:41at art school
19:42in Liverpool.
19:44She said to me,
19:45I never really fell for John
19:47until we were
19:48in that lecture theatre
19:49and you were sitting
19:50behind him.
19:51I was always
19:52combing John's hair
19:53because he used
19:54to say to me,
19:55sit behind me
19:56and do me a DA.
19:59So I had to
20:00comb his hair back
20:01and make it part
20:02down the centre back
20:04and Cynthia said,
20:05I looked up
20:06and I saw you
20:07fondling John's hair.
20:08I said,
20:09I wasn't fondling his hair,
20:10I was doing his DA.
20:11And she said,
20:12well, that's when
20:12I felt jealousy for you.
20:14I fell in love with John.
20:17He was in Hamburg,
20:18I think,
20:19when Sim found out
20:20she was pregnant.
20:21She said,
20:22oh, John wants to marry me.
20:23She said,
20:23you didn't have to.
20:24She said,
20:25but he wants to marry me.
20:26And so they got married
20:27and they were in love.
20:28And when Julian was born,
20:30you know,
20:30he was absolutely
20:31over the moon.
20:33They kept their wedding
20:34quiet and kept Julian quiet.
20:37And I said,
20:38doesn't that bother you, Sim?
20:40She said,
20:41I can't let the fans down,
20:43can I?
20:46The Beatles' success
20:47was unprecedented.
20:50New York City cops
20:50are hard-pressed
20:51protecting the Beatles
20:52at their hotel.
20:56By the age of 25,
20:58John Lennon
20:59was one of the most
20:59recognizable faces
21:01on the planet.
21:03He had had hit records
21:04all over the world
21:05and he had toured
21:07America twice.
21:09He was very rich
21:10and very famous.
21:17Wow.
21:21I mean,
21:22that's really a picture
21:22in which there's
21:24very little sort of
21:24aura of celebrity
21:26or fame or importance
21:27or any of those things.
21:28That's somebody
21:29really going through it.
21:32And he's really thinking
21:33about what he's
21:34in the midst of.
21:34And he's having a drink
21:35and a ciggy.
21:36I mean,
21:36I think for medicinal reasons,
21:37you know.
21:40I suppose one of the things
21:41you associate with fame
21:43is this weird sort of tension
21:45between all the adulation
21:46and success
21:47and the essential loneliness
21:49of your position, right?
21:51And I think this picture
21:53really encapsulates that.
21:55I'm not even sure
21:55he's aware
21:56he's having his photograph taken.
21:58I think he's too wrapped up
21:59in what he's going through
22:00to even notice the photographer
22:01or the click of the shutter.
22:19The thing to understand
22:20about the Beatles
22:21as much as anything else
22:22is how fast their lives moved.
22:24It's mind-boggling.
22:25In this picture,
22:26it's the sort of late summer
22:28of 1966.
22:30So that's only
22:31kind of three years
22:33since She Loves You
22:34and mop tops
22:35and collarless suits
22:36and all that.
22:37But you're in a completely
22:37different world
22:38and so is he.
22:40Four years before,
22:43Beatles play here
22:44in Lindy Town Hall
22:46in Gloucestershire.
22:47And then four years,
22:4848 months later,
22:50all this happens.
22:55In August 1966,
22:58John Lennon was snapped
23:00behind the scenes
23:00at a press conference
23:02in Chicago.
23:04The Beatles had just arrived
23:06in America
23:06on their third tour.
23:08But Lennon was in trouble
23:10and the press call
23:12had been organized
23:13for him to explain
23:14something that he had said
23:16at home in England
23:17five months earlier.
23:18So you want to be
23:20a rock and roll star
23:21then listen now
23:23to what I see
23:24Maureen Cleave,
23:25who's a really brilliant
23:26journalist and interviewer
23:27who writes for
23:28The Evening Standard.
23:29She profiles each of
23:31the Beatles in turn
23:32and she goes to
23:33John and Cynthia's house
23:35in Weybridge in Surrey
23:36and she sort of observes him
23:38in his domestic environment.
23:45He's this 25-year-old
23:47astoundingly successful person
23:50who seems quite sort of
23:52disorientated
23:53and unsure of who he is.
23:56He starts talking
23:58about Christianity
23:59and he says
24:00Christianity will die,
24:02it will vanish and shrink.
24:04We're, in other words,
24:05the Beatles,
24:06are more popular
24:06than Jesus now.
24:09You have to look hard
24:10to find it.
24:11It's buried.
24:11It's not highlighted
24:12in any way.
24:13So that appeared
24:14without any kind
24:15of hoo-ha at all.
24:17And then a magazine
24:18in the States,
24:19a sort of teen pop magazine
24:21called Datebook
24:22got hold of it
24:23and they did what,
24:25you know,
24:25anyone with their eye on
24:27a sensationalist angle
24:28would do,
24:29which is they zeroed
24:30in on the quote.
24:32We're more popular
24:32than Jesus now.
24:34And all over America,
24:36but particularly
24:36in the so-called Bible Belt,
24:37the Deep South,
24:38it all goes off.
24:41If you,
24:42as an American teenager,
24:43are offended
24:44by statements
24:44from a group
24:45of foreign singers
24:46which strike
24:47at the very basis
24:48of our existence
24:48as God-fearing,
24:49patriotic citizens,
24:51then we urge you
24:52to take your
24:53Beatles records,
24:53pictures,
24:54and souvenirs,
24:55and on the night
24:56of the Beatles' appearance
24:57in Memphis,
24:57August 19th,
24:59they will be destroyed
25:00in a huge public bonfire
25:01at a place
25:02to be named soon.
25:04But are you burning
25:05your Beatles record?
25:06Yes, sir,
25:06I burn them.
25:08Tell me,
25:09why this violent reaction
25:10to what John Lennon said?
25:12Well,
25:12I wouldn't call
25:13exactly what I have
25:14done a violent reaction.
25:16Wasn't he just being honest?
25:18You never can tell
25:19about him.
25:20His answers
25:21are so flippant
25:21and his attitude
25:23is so bizarre
25:24in many instances.
25:25You never know
25:25whether he's honest
25:26or not.
25:28When the Beatles
25:29arrived in America
25:30in August 1966,
25:33their first engagement
25:34was with a room
25:35of American reporters
25:36eager to ask John
25:38to explain himself.
25:40Tony Barrow,
25:41their press officer,
25:42said subsequently
25:43that just before
25:44the press conference
25:45in the hotel in Chicago,
25:46John Lennon was crying.
25:47I mean,
25:48he really was beside himself
25:49about what he was
25:50in the middle of
25:51and how on earth
25:51he was going to cope with it,
25:53which I think
25:53is what that photograph is.
25:55It's the same kind of moment.
26:03Anybody who's not rolling?
26:10The Beatles are more popular
26:11than Christ?
26:13When I was talking about it,
26:15it was very close
26:15and intimate
26:16with this person
26:17that I know
26:17who happens to be a reporter.
26:19And I was using expressions
26:20on things
26:21that I just read
26:22and derived
26:23about Christianity,
26:25only I was saying it
26:25in the simplest form
26:26that I know,
26:27which is the natural way
26:28I talk,
26:29more popular than Jesus
26:31and so on and so and so.
26:32But she took them
26:33and people that know me
26:35took them exactly as it was
26:36because they know
26:37that's how I talk,
26:38you know.
26:38If this happened now,
26:40you would have
26:41a very controlled occasion
26:42at which they would appear
26:44and they would probably
26:45read out a statement
26:46and they might take
26:46a few questions
26:47and that's that.
26:48And that doesn't happen.
26:49I was pointing out
26:50that fact
26:50in reference to England
26:52that we meant more
26:54to kids than Jesus did
26:55or religion at that time.
26:58I wasn't knocking it
26:59or putting it down,
27:00I was just saying it
27:01as a fact.
27:02And it's sort of,
27:03it is truth
27:04that's more for England
27:05than here.
27:06I'm not saying
27:07that we're better
27:08or greater
27:09or comparing us
27:10with Jesus Christ
27:11as a person
27:12or God as a thing
27:13or whatever it is.
27:15You know,
27:15I just said what I said
27:16and it was wrong
27:17or was taken wrong
27:18and now it's all this.
27:20He doesn't seem
27:21to have a pre-prepared script.
27:23He's sort of talking
27:25spontaneously
27:25and ends up worrying
27:26he's going to get himself
27:27in trouble again.
27:28I mean, he says,
27:28if I'd said television
27:30was bigger than Jesus,
27:31I might have got away with it.
27:33If it had said
27:35television is more popular
27:36than Jesus,
27:37I might have got away with it.
27:39That's very spontaneous speech.
27:41But again,
27:41very true to the person
27:43because it's the unvarnished hymn.
27:45But anyway,
27:45that's not the kind
27:46you're saying it.
27:47I am, yes,
27:47even though
27:49I never meant
27:50what people think
27:50I meant by it.
27:51I'm still sorry
27:52I opened my mouth.
27:57What difference
27:57has all this round
27:58made to this tour
27:59do you think?
28:00Any at all?
28:03Paul.
28:06After the press conference
28:07in Chicago,
28:09the American tour
28:10continued as planned.
28:12It was the Beatles
28:13most chaotic yet.
28:17This is the craziest tour
28:18of all.
28:19So it's pretty dangerous anyway.
28:21But if you throw into that
28:22a genuine sort of political
28:24and moral controversy
28:25like this,
28:26nobody had been
28:27so famous
28:29that if they said something
28:30in a newspaper,
28:31it would cause
28:32the Bible Belt
28:33in America
28:33to spontaneously combust.
28:35or that there were bullet holes
28:36subsequently found
28:37in the fuselage
28:38of their aeroplane.
28:41So you can see
28:42if you're of a remotely
28:43sort of sensitive disposition,
28:45this is not really
28:46very good medicine.
28:47And I think John
28:48then feels that.
28:51Look at him
28:51in the photograph.
28:52He knows it's finished.
28:57The third tour of America
28:59was the Beatles' last.
29:01They decided to focus
29:02instead on recording.
29:05And they would never play
29:06to a paying audience
29:07anywhere again.
29:10But that didn't stop
29:12John Lennon
29:12from speaking his mind.
29:14Seems a bit silly
29:15to be in America
29:16and for none of them
29:17to mention Vietnam
29:18as if nothing was happening.
29:19But why should they
29:20ask you about it,
29:20your success?
29:21Yeah, that's why they...
29:22Because Americans
29:23always ask showbiz people
29:25what they think.
29:26Well, they're sort of
29:26the British, you know.
29:27Showbiz, you know how it is.
29:29But, I mean,
29:30you've just got to...
29:30You can't just keep quiet
29:31about anything
29:32that's going on
29:32in the world
29:33unless you're a monk.
29:35Sorry, monks,
29:36I didn't mean it.
29:36I meant actually.
29:44By 1969,
29:45the Beatles were on
29:46to their 11th studio album.
29:50John's marriage
29:50to Cynthia
29:51had ended in divorce
29:52the year before
29:53and he was now living
29:55with his second wife,
29:57Yoko Ono.
30:02My name is Dan Richter
30:03and Yoko was a friend of mine
30:06who I'd met in Tokyo
30:07way back in 63.
30:10And when John turned up
30:12and John Yoko fell in love,
30:15they asked us to come out
30:17and live with them
30:17at their new estate,
30:18Tittenhurst Park,
30:19I and my wife, Jill,
30:21so that Yoko would have
30:22some friends of her own there.
30:26We're looking at John and Yoko
30:28sitting on the grass
30:29in front of a wrecked white sedan.
30:34John and Yoko
30:35and Yoko's daughter, Kyoko,
30:37and John's son, Julian,
30:39were visiting a relative
30:41up in Scotland
30:42and John was driving
30:44and they had a very bad accident.
30:47Yoko sustained quite a few injuries
30:49and they were all scraped
30:51and cut up
30:52and it wasn't good.
31:09It had been very serious.
31:11They had to go to the hospital
31:12and Yoko had some ongoing problems
31:16and it took her a while
31:17to actually get better.
31:21You've got to be good to me
31:24But in this picture,
31:26they've turned it into a work of art.
31:27I'm going to be good to you
31:30They arranged for the car
31:31to be brought to Tittenhurst.
31:33A plinth was made out of concrete.
31:35The car was put on it
31:36like a statue.
31:37There's the car,
31:38as you can see,
31:39the twisted door
31:40and the rumpled frame.
31:42And I think what's ironic about it
31:45is John and Yoko are smiling.
31:47They were having a good time
31:48when this picture was taken.
31:49It was a lot of fun.
31:50It had become a joke.
31:52And John's getting that piece thing in as well,
31:54you know,
31:55which is what they were talking about
31:57all the time during those days.
32:02John Lennon and Yoko Ono
32:04first met in 1966
32:06at an art gallery in London.
32:09She was a conceptual artist from Japan.
32:12At the time,
32:14she'd never heard of John Lennon
32:15or the Beatles.
32:17They married three years later in private,
32:20but their honeymoon
32:21couldn't have been more public.
32:24This is two events combined.
32:26One is bed piece,
32:28but they're normally spelled P-I-E-C,
32:29but it's a pun.
32:30And her piece, bed piece is,
32:32we're going to stay in bed for seven days,
32:34sort of,
32:35instead of having a private honeymoon.
32:36It's a private protest.
32:38For the violence that's going in the world,
32:41you see.
32:42Be sure that instead of making war,
32:44it's better to just stay in bed.
32:45Let's stay in bed for spring.
32:46And grow your hair.
32:47Yes.
32:48For peace.
32:48Let it grow till peace comes.
32:51So this is part of your honeymoon?
32:52Yes.
32:53Yes, yes.
32:55See, 69 is arguably John and Yoko
32:58at their most far out.
32:59Are there holes in the bag?
33:01There's holes to get in and out.
33:02They're doing these art happenings
33:04and talking to people
33:05from within a white cloth bag
33:08and doing the beddings
33:09and all the rest of it.
33:10We're not coming out
33:11for the conference, no,
33:12but we'll be out
33:13for a chocolate cake later.
33:14And I think that
33:15it's very important
33:17that we're communicating now
33:20just by words.
33:22But in the summer of 69,
33:24he does something quite conventional,
33:26which is he takes his new partner
33:27to meet his extended family.
33:29How are you enjoying married life?
33:31It's beautiful, you know.
33:32It's beautiful.
33:34There are some rock stars
33:35you think are just completely
33:36just gone, man.
33:37They're just away with the fairies.
33:39You might as well live on the moon,
33:40you know.
33:40And he has every right
33:41to be that sort of rock star
33:44because no one's as famous as him.
33:47But he has one foot in the ordinary
33:49very often
33:50and wants to have one foot in the ordinary.
33:52So in the same year,
33:53the person who's done
33:54two beddings for peace
33:55and spoken to the press in Austria
33:57from inside a giant white bag
33:59is driving around rural Scotland
34:01in an Austin Maxie
34:02to meet his auntie.
34:03Some of the things people
34:04have said about you
34:05I haven't been very kind
34:06lately.
34:07No, no.
34:07Does this get you down?
34:09Well, it's so much
34:10that it got past being depressing.
34:12It's got into a joke again.
34:13It was a bit depressing
34:14the way they kept
34:15picking on Yoko,
34:17you know,
34:17saying she was ugly
34:18and all personal things like that.
34:19but I know she isn't, so.
34:24Yoko and John fell in love.
34:25I mean,
34:26they were like,
34:26it's like Romeo and Juliet.
34:28I've never seen two people
34:29who were more in love
34:30with each other.
34:31And the story of John Yoko
34:32is a story of personal growth.
34:34How do you grow as a person?
34:36How do you get to the truth of things?
34:37And John had a lot of baggage.
34:41And Yoko just took care
34:43of the noise of the world around him.
34:45She just stepped into that void
34:46and stood out in front,
34:47which gave him a kind of freedom.
34:50He saw himself as an artist now
34:52in a way he had never done before.
34:54And Yoko was responsible for that.
34:56You don't feel you're being hounded?
34:58No, no.
34:59I mean,
34:59the amount of hounding we get,
35:01we're going to turn it
35:02into what we think
35:03is good use of it.
35:05If we're going to be hounded,
35:06we may as well
35:07say what we have to say
35:08about peace and things.
35:10The rest of the Beatles
35:11were trying to hold
35:12the group together.
35:14And John's point was,
35:15I'm going to go on and evolve
35:17and I'm an artist.
35:19What about the future
35:20of the Beatles?
35:21Do you feel that you're still a group?
35:23I mean, you've got a lot of faith.
35:24Sure, sure, sure.
35:25You know,
35:25we're closer now
35:26than we ever were.
35:28He loved the Beatles.
35:29He loved what he did
35:30with the Beatles.
35:31He was very proud of it
35:32and it was some of the greatest music
35:34he'd ever written, you know.
35:35But he had further to go
35:37and he wasn't going to be held back
35:39and that's the way
35:41it was going to be.
35:43The Beatles released their album
35:46Abbey Road
35:46in September 1969.
35:50Seven months later,
35:51the band broke up
35:52and the following year,
35:54in 1971,
35:56John Lennon moved to New York.
36:10My name is Leon Wilds.
36:13I was John Lennon's immigration lawyer
36:16and I'm this gentleman's father.
36:21I started this firm in 1960
36:26and over the years,
36:28we attracted important people
36:31and we were successful with them.
36:36Dad was a modest man,
36:38is a modest man
36:39and never really took credit
36:40for things that he was doing.
36:42But when John met with him,
36:43he saw that there was
36:45not just a personal drama going on,
36:46but that the government
36:48was actually after
36:49the famous Beatle
36:50and that he needed help
36:51and was being treated unjustly.
37:00The Lennons are applying
37:02for permanent residence
37:03in this country
37:04to resist deportation
37:05based on the grounds
37:06they have overstayed
37:07their American visas.
37:09The U.S. Immigration
37:10and Naturalization Service
37:11opposes their request
37:13because Lennon was once convicted
37:15in Britain of possessing marijuana.
37:17Yoko also wants to remain here
37:19to continue a search
37:20for her eight-year-old daughter
37:22whose custody was illegally taken
37:24by Yoko's former husband.
37:28Do you remember this day?
37:30Yeah.
37:31John and Yoko are wearing
37:33the same shirt and tie, Dad.
37:34Didn't you get them dressed that day?
37:36Yeah.
37:37If you look at them,
37:38they look like they match.
37:40Right.
37:41That was by design, wasn't it?
37:43Yes.
37:44Yes.
37:45I wanted people to meet them
37:47and immediately come
37:49to the conclusion
37:50that they know both of them.
37:52And that they were a match couple.
37:54And that they were a match couple.
37:56And separating one from the other
37:58would be a travesty of justice.
38:00Yeah.
38:01He takes over every once in a while.
38:03Yeah.
38:04You went into their closet, Dad,
38:06and said,
38:07do you have something
38:08that you both have
38:09and you actually got
38:11John and Yoko dressed?
38:12Do you remember that?
38:13Yeah.
38:14That's cool.
38:15But who dressed you?
38:19Whoever it is
38:20did a bad job.
38:27In March 1972,
38:30John Lennon and Yoko Ono
38:32appeared in court in New York
38:33to defend themselves
38:35against a deportation order.
38:37It was election year in America.
38:39The country was still at war
38:41with Vietnam.
38:42And for some,
38:44John Lennon,
38:44a foreign anti-war agitator,
38:47was not welcome.
38:49Peace.
38:50Peace.
38:50Peace, brothers.
38:51All right.
38:51OK?
38:53Yeah.
38:53John was a very special
38:57young man.
38:58Where do you go from here, John?
39:00Well, we go and rest some
39:02and then we wait
39:02till next Wednesday
39:03and then we start again,
39:04I guess.
39:05I don't know where,
39:06you know,
39:06I don't know what's happening.
39:07He was concerned
39:09about helping Yoko.
39:11That's what impressed me most.
39:13Is the search
39:14and this court case
39:15costing you a great deal of money?
39:16I don't really care.
39:18I guess it is, yeah.
39:19But I'll just have to keep singing.
39:23The crazy thing about this
39:25is that Mick Jagger
39:27had been busted for dope.
39:29You know,
39:29a lot of the other
39:30rock and roll stars
39:31had had those kind of problems
39:32and there was,
39:33you're absolutely welcome
39:35to be in the States,
39:36you know.
39:37It was John Yoko's
39:38political stances
39:40they had taken,
39:41particularly against
39:43Mr. Nixon,
39:44that led to the way
39:45they were treated.
39:46I know there are those
39:47who say that
39:48we can cut our defenses
39:50so that we have
39:50the second strongest Navy
39:52and the second strongest Air Force
39:53and the second strongest Army
39:55and it doesn't really
39:56make any difference.
39:57But let me tell you,
39:58the day that happens,
40:01peace and freedom
40:02will be in deadly jeopardy
40:04throughout the world.
40:05Let me say,
40:06keep America strong
40:07so that the President
40:08of the United States
40:09will represent a strong America
40:10and not a weak America.
40:14The 72 election
40:15was the first election
40:17in which 18-year-olds
40:17had to vote in America
40:19and in very vague terms,
40:21John Lennon and Yoko
40:22had talked
40:24about doing a tour
40:25which might sort of intersect
40:26with the politics
40:27of the election
40:27and sort of rally
40:29young people somehow.
40:31He immersed himself
40:32in the left-wing
40:33political counterculture
40:34of New York City.
40:35He was hanging around
40:36with Abbie Hoffman
40:37and Jerry Rubin
40:38and the Black Panthers
40:39and he was sort of,
40:40he immersed himself,
40:41I think,
40:41because he was interested in it.
40:43But the Nixon administration
40:44inevitably got wind of that,
40:47made far too much of it
40:48in my opinion,
40:49you know,
40:49but was scared enough then
40:51to make John Lennon
40:53a marked man
40:53and A,
40:54to put him under surveillance
40:55and B,
40:56to try and throw him
40:56out of the country.
40:57We're just hoping
40:59that they would be
41:01fair about this,
41:02you know,
41:02because I feel awful
41:03about the fact that
41:05we still can't find my daughter
41:07and also we have to maybe
41:10leave this country
41:11that we love very much,
41:12you know.
41:12We love this country.
41:14We still believe
41:15in American justice
41:16because I believe
41:17that this is some mistake,
41:19you know,
41:19because we've been known
41:20as two pacifists.
41:22We have done nothing
41:23but to promote peace and love.
41:26At the time,
41:27John, Yoko,
41:28and their legal team
41:29suspected their phones
41:31were being tapped,
41:32something confirmed
41:34decades later.
41:35The notion that
41:36President Nixon
41:37would want to take action
41:39and surreptitiously record
41:41a citizen and a lawyer
41:42was extraordinary.
41:44I didn't appreciate
41:47that the government
41:48was observing John.
41:52It wasn't their business
41:53to go into the details
41:55of this stuff.
41:57And it was a little scary
42:00because the people
42:02who were investigating
42:05John and Yoko
42:07for the FBI.
42:09It was scary, you know,
42:11because the FBI
42:12was everywhere.
42:14What we were afraid of
42:15is that Nixon
42:16was recording the calls,
42:19would edit them
42:20to get them to say things
42:21that they actually
42:22hadn't said.
42:23So I made sure
42:24that we had a recording
42:25of every phone call
42:26that was made
42:27so we could say,
42:28no, that's not the way it is.
42:29It's like this.
42:31Tell us what happened
42:32with your father.
42:32He would talk to him
42:33in what language
42:34on the phone, Dad?
42:36My father often
42:37spoke in Yiddish.
42:39He figured if the FBI
42:41was going to record him,
42:42he might as well
42:43have to see that
42:43they have to pay
42:44an old Jewish man
42:46a fee to translate it.
42:48So he would purposely
42:48say John Lennon
42:49and then go into
42:50a battle of Yiddish
42:51knowing that the FBI
42:53was working overtime
42:54on this.
42:56At 8.45 this morning,
42:58I filed with the
42:59Immigration and Naturalization
43:01Service
43:01a notice of appeal.
43:03That appeal goes to
43:04the Board of Immigration
43:05Appeals in Washington,
43:07another branch
43:08of the Department of Justice.
43:10and the course
43:12will follow the filing
43:13of briefs
43:15and oral argument
43:16in Washington.
43:18The court case
43:19in 1972
43:20was just the beginning
43:22of a protracted legal battle,
43:24John Lennon
43:25versus the U.S.
43:26government
43:26for his right
43:28to remain in America.
43:37Well, this is a photograph
43:41taken at the Troubadour Club
43:44in Los Angeles.
43:48This is part of what happened
43:51during what's called
43:52John Lennon's Lost Weekend.
43:55He'd been working
43:55with Phil Spector
43:57on the Rock and Roll album
43:59and Phil Spector
44:01had had a motorcycle accident,
44:03I think it was.
44:05So John was in L.A.
44:08waiting for Phil Spector
44:09to recover
44:10and it was quite
44:12a long wait.
44:14It's a corner up to me
44:17Looking as you were
44:20Going down, going down slow
44:31This was at the Troubadour Club
44:34and the club was part of the
44:36sort of Rock and Roll Square Mile.
44:37It was Rock and Roll Central.
44:39If you started at the sort of bottom end
44:41of the Rock and Roll block,
44:43Tower Records,
44:44the Whiskey A Go-Go,
44:46the Roxy,
44:47the Rainbow Bar and Grill,
44:49it is where the big Rock and Roll stars
44:51at the time used to gather
44:52and crazy stuff used to happen
44:55and that's what happened
44:57on this night, crazy stuff.
45:03The person in the forefront
45:05is Harry Nielsen.
45:06Now Harry is a notorious drinker
45:09and behind him
45:10is John with Mepang
45:12and they're engaged in
45:16what looks like
45:17a very passionate kiss.
45:22Yoko had given John
45:24permission to have an affair
45:26with Mepang.
45:28Mepang was their assistant
45:30and she and John
45:32were attracted to one another
45:34and I think Yoko was
45:39sensible enough really
45:40to realise that John needed
45:43to get wildness
45:44kind of out of his system.
45:46Could stay here all night
45:49It all got a bit drunken
45:51and begun to escalate
45:54into something that had
45:56much more of an edge to it.
45:57Please get up and turn out
45:59for a while
46:00Harry and John
46:02and their entourage
46:03got ejected
46:04and there was a sort of
46:06bit of a scuffle
46:06as John was being ejected
46:08from the club
46:09and famously
46:11he lost his glasses
46:12at one point
46:13and I think lashed out
46:15at someone.
46:16It was said later
46:17that he hit one of the waitresses
46:19but everybody around
46:21denies that that was the case
46:22but certainly John
46:24was now in a bit of a blind
46:26literally kind of rage
46:27so it all got a bit crazy.
46:32There are various disputed accounts
46:35of what took place
46:36at the troubadour
46:38but whatever happened
46:40that night
46:40John's behaviour
46:41could have had
46:42serious consequences.
46:45This lost weekend
46:46really in the wider sense
46:48developed into something
46:49that really was absolutely
46:51it got ridiculous.
46:53He had Harry Nilsson in tow
46:55he had Keith Moon in tow
46:57Alice Cooper was around
46:58a little bit as well
46:59and so that crew
47:02that group of people
47:03were firing each other up.
47:07If you needed one picture
47:08to sum up that period of time
47:10when John was without Yoko
47:11this is the picture.
47:13What is he?
47:14He's 33 years old
47:15at this point
47:16and it really could have
47:17caused trouble for John
47:18because the American government
47:20was trying to throw him
47:20out of the country
47:21at this point
47:22and had this become
47:24a big court
47:25you know
47:26a prosecution
47:26it would have looked
47:28very bad for John
47:29but fortunately
47:30no one prosecuted him
47:31and he got away with it
47:32and it just became
47:34kind of like
47:35the emblematic night
47:37of what he called
47:37his lost weekend.
47:42There's quite a lot
47:43of unpacking
47:44that needed to be done here.
47:46One is the loneliest number
47:49that you'll ever do
47:53If you go back
47:55John was born in 1940
47:57so he was like five years old
48:00when the war finished
48:01so as he went into his teens
48:04we're still in rationing
48:07austere
48:08post-war Britain
48:13Well I don't know my father
48:15I never
48:15I saw him twice in my life
48:17till I was
48:1822
48:19when he turned up
48:20after I'd had a few hit records
48:22and I saw him
48:23I spoke to him
48:24and I decided
48:25I still didn't want to know him
48:27and that's all there is to it.
48:29He didn't know his dad
48:30he'd lost his mum
48:32he was being brought up by
48:34his very strict
48:36Auntie Mimi
48:37and life
48:38was very restrictive
48:42Even Hamburg
48:43which was a crazy time
48:45the band were working
48:46so hard
48:47I mean they were doing
48:48like four gigs a day
48:50and of course
48:51once the Beatles happened
48:53getting out and about
48:54and living a normal life
48:55for them
48:56became absolutely impossible
48:57as we know
48:58so there was a lot of stuff
49:01that John needed to get out
49:02and this was the moment
49:04that he did it
49:05and I think Yoko
49:06realised all of this
49:07and said right
49:08I'm giving you licence
49:11to go crazy
49:12for a little while
49:16about nine months
49:17after being snapped
49:18at the troubadour
49:19John Lennon returned
49:21to New York
49:22and his wife
49:23Yoko Ono
49:24his lost weekend
49:26was over
49:26and the couple
49:28was back together
49:29I think this was one
49:31of the strong things
49:32about the relationship
49:33between John and Yoko
49:34once she had allowed John
49:38to get that wild streak
49:40kind of out of his system
49:41from then on
49:43she knew
49:44that when he came back
49:45to New York
49:46he was going to settle
49:47right back down with her
49:49and of course
49:50that's exactly what happened
49:59Hi I'm Bob Gruen
50:01a rock and roll photographer
50:02from New York
50:04I like photos
50:05that have passion
50:06and feeling
50:06and not just facts
50:08and often see
50:09the human side of people
50:10you know
50:11as a photographer
50:11observing people
50:12and having to catch a moment
50:14you have to observe
50:15their personality
50:31In October 1975
50:35Yoko Ono
50:36gave birth
50:37to a baby boy
50:38John Lennon's
50:39second son
50:40Sean
50:43About a month after
50:44Sean was born
50:45John and Yoko
50:45people called me
50:46to come and take pictures
50:47that they would send
50:48to their family
50:48and actually that's why
50:49John and Yoko
50:50are wearing kimonos
50:52because Yoko's family
50:53was a lot bigger
50:54than John's
50:56Well it's a color picture
50:57John and Yoko
50:58in their bedroom
51:00kind of the way
51:01they relax
51:01some newspapers
51:02on the bed
51:03holding up the baby
51:04who's quite small
51:06a little bigger
51:07than a football
51:08It's the main thing
51:09I think about
51:10when I see this picture
51:10is just how happy
51:11John looks
51:12you know
51:12just how big
51:13his smile was
51:14not that he wasn't
51:15smiling a lot
51:16but not like this day
51:18this day he was
51:19really really happy
51:20John was constantly
51:21making jokes
51:22so we were all laughing
51:23a lot
51:24but this kind of
51:25inner smile
51:26this kind of inner joy
51:27was sort of new
51:28I mean you could tell
51:30something dramatic
51:30had happened
51:31and he was feeling
51:32it very very deeply
51:35He was very very happy
51:37Sean was happy
51:38and healthy
51:38and John was
51:40beginning to become
51:41committed to raising
51:42Sean
51:42and to be there
51:44literally every minute
51:45the way a mother is
51:46and Yoko was beginning
51:47to take care of the business
51:48and so they kind of
51:49reversed roles
51:50and John was the house husband
51:51and Yoko was the business person
51:56The arrival of John
51:57and Yoko's son Sean
51:59coincided with some
52:00other good news
52:02Yoko was about
52:03to give birth to Sean
52:05and they were in the hospital
52:06and my father
52:07got a phone call
52:08from the clerk
52:09who said that
52:09I have a copy
52:10of your Lennon case
52:11you won the case
52:13so my mom and dad
52:14both went to the hospital
52:15Yoko was literally
52:17a few hours away
52:19from giving birth
52:19and John was sitting there
52:22and Yoko
52:24started reading
52:24the decision
52:25on the bed
52:28because she understood
52:30the legal arguments
52:31and the mechanics
52:32John was just happy
52:32as hell
52:33that they had won the case
52:35and they were going
52:35to become a father
52:36soon
52:37John called
52:38that next morning
52:39and my father
52:40answered the phone
52:41and this is how
52:42he told it
52:42who is this
52:44he goes
52:44John
52:44my father said
52:45John who
52:46and he says
52:47it's John Lennon
52:48and I had a beautiful boy
52:58after the birth of Sean
52:59John put his recording career
53:02on hold
53:02and stepped away
53:04from the public eye
53:05to become a full-time
53:06house husband
53:09and all the things
53:10that his life
53:11was up to that point
53:13which is sort of hectic
53:15and ever-changing
53:16and unpredictable
53:18and marked by these
53:19sort of huge convulsions
53:20whether that's the bigger
53:20than Jesus quote
53:21or the Beatles splitting up
53:22or his immigration case
53:23he's been through
53:24he's been through all these
53:24lurches hasn't he
53:25and then
53:26he gets to 75
53:27and it is like someone
53:29at the end of the worst
53:31date you've ever had
53:32closing the door
53:33and saying
53:33right
53:35I'm home now
53:35and that's what happened
53:36and I think
53:37in involving himself
53:39so much
53:39in the upbringing
53:40and of his son
53:40he was sort of
53:41trying to make up
53:42for something he hadn't done
53:42I mean it's not very complicated
53:44this but something
53:44he hadn't done
53:45the first time around
53:45that when Julian
53:46his first child was around
53:48he'd been a Beatle then
53:49he'd not been there
53:51arguably he didn't necessarily
53:52have the emotional equipment
53:53at that point
53:53to be a dad
53:54so it was like
53:54right well I better try
53:55and get this right
53:56this time
53:58it's still an existence
53:59that you and I
54:00wouldn't necessarily understand
54:02because he's John Lennon
54:03and he's in the Dakota building
54:04on the Upper West Side
54:06and it's only five years
54:07since he was in the Beatles
54:08right
54:10but I think as close
54:11as you get to a sort of
54:12everyday regular experience
54:14when you're John Lennon
54:15that's it
54:15that's kind of it
54:18obviously it has
54:18a tremendously moving quality
54:22because all of this was
54:24cut short
54:42this is a photograph of a 40 year old man
54:45not yet middle age really
54:48looking down as he signs an autograph
54:51for the 10 millionth time in his life
54:55for a young man standing by his side
55:00who said will he sign this
55:02yeah sure
55:04and signs it
55:05and signs it and hands it back
55:06and then John goes off
55:07to the recording studio
55:10and the guy
55:12stands there
55:13for a few more hours
55:14until John comes back
55:15and then pulls the gun
55:17from his pocket
55:17and shoots him
55:18in the back
55:20and this is a picture
55:21of a man
55:22and his assassin
55:24and it's a really tragic photograph
55:27historically important
55:29but no good comes of this picture
55:36in 1980
55:37after five years out of the spotlight
55:40John Lennon released a new album
55:43Double Fantasy
55:44written and recorded with his wife Yoko Ono
55:49three weeks after its release
55:51he was dead
55:54John Lennon is dead
55:56shot several times by a young American
55:58as he was going into his home
56:00in New York
56:02the former Beatle
56:03who was 40
56:04was returning home
56:05from a recording studio
56:06with his wife Yoko Ono
56:07when he was murdered
56:08it was just before 11 o'clock last night
56:10when they were entering
56:11the luxury Dakota apartment building
56:13on New York's west side
56:16Mr. Lennon was struck several times
56:18we're not positive at this time
56:19as to how many times he was struck
56:21police say the motive for the murder
56:23is not clear
56:24but they've described the man
56:25they arrested
56:26as mentally unbalanced
56:29when the Beatles broke through in 1963
56:33if people knew where they were
56:34there would be people outside saying
56:37will you sign this
56:38and they signed and signed and signed and signed and signed
56:42and they remained
56:45approachable
56:47and similarly John Lennon in New York
56:49always came and went through the front entrance
56:51of the Dakota building
56:53and there would be people there
56:54and he knew there would be people there
56:55he didn't try and dodge them
56:57he would say
56:58look they've been waiting for me
56:59I'll go inside
57:00and he paid the price
57:02he lost his life
57:03for having such openness
57:06all night crowds
57:07many of them weeping
57:08waited outside Lennon's home
57:10showing the reverence
57:12in which the founder of the Beatles
57:13was held by more than one generation
57:17to this day
57:18I hate looking at this photograph
57:21who knows what
57:22he would have gone on
57:24to say, do and achieve
57:26I think the world
57:27would now be
57:29genuinely
57:30a better place
57:32for his influence
57:39you know, he's amazing
57:41he's a tremendously charismatic
57:43talented
57:44magnetic personality
57:45the songs he writes
57:47are incredible
57:48but at the same time
57:50because he's so honest
57:51recurrently
57:52you're aware of all his flaws
57:54as well
57:55it's all there
57:57so he sort of affirms
57:58the fact that
57:59none of us are perfect
58:00and that
58:01you know, there might
58:03be no such thing as superstars
58:04or icons
58:05you know, everyone's a human being
58:07he had a kind of integrity
58:08and honesty
58:09and a truth about
58:11everything he did
58:13that meant that he was able to
58:14communicate to people's hearts
58:15and their souls
58:16not just to their minds
58:28yeah
58:29errors
58:30it
58:33they
58:35it
58:35and
58:35it
58:35and
58:38and
58:39it
58:40yeah