9 October: John Lennon

Born on this date in 1940 - John Lennon. He would have been 77 today. Here are some things you might not know about him.

1. The first musical instrument John Lennon learned to play was the harmonica. His mother taught him how to play the banjo and bought him his first Guitar.
2. He didn't do especially well at school, despite his obvious creative talents. "Certainly on the road to failure ... hopeless ... rather a Clown in class ... wasting other pupils' time," his school reports read. He failed all his O levels, and Liverpool College of Art only allowed him to study there when his aunt and headmaster intervened. At college, he disrupted classes and ridiculed the teachers, and continued to fail exams, so never completed the course.
3. He met his first wife, Cynthia Powell, at art college and was attracted to her because she looked a bit like Brigitte Bardot. The couple married in in 1962 when Cynthia got pregnant. The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, thought it would be bad for the Beatles' image if one of them was married with a child so the marriage was generally kept secret, to the extent that Cynthia was stopped from boarding the train the Beatles were travelling on because the policeman didn't know who she was. He wasn't a good husband or father in those days. He performed nearly every night, was possessive, jealous and even violent towards his wife. Once, he refused to speak to her for two days because she'd had her hair cut.
4. His full name was John Winston Ono Lennon. John after his grandfather, Winston after Winston Churchill. He added the Ono himself after marrying Yoko Ono.
5. He owned an uninhabited island off the coast of Ireland. It was called Dorinish, and he bought it in 1967 for £1,700. After he died, Yoko sold it for £30,000 and donated the money to an orphanage in Ireland.
6. John Lennon may have been voted as one of the greatest singers in rock and roll history, but he hated the sound of his own voice, and would ask the producer to disguise it in recordings. After the Beatles split up, he confessed to the same producer that he was never satisfied with any of their records and wished he could re-record the lot.
7. He was a big fan of Monopoly and would take a set on tour. His favourite properties on the board were “Boardwalk” and “Park Place”. It didn't matter if he lost the game, as long as he'd managed to buy those two properties.
8. He was the last of the Beatles to pass his driving test, being a terrible driver. Even after passing, he had an accident in Scotland in which his Aston Martin was written off. He gave up driving after that and used a chauffeur instead. Yoko had the wrecked car mounted on a pillar at their home. Perhaps his lack of skill at driving can be explained by the fact that later in his life, it was discovered that his eyesight was so bad he was actually legally blind. He also found out late in life that he was dyslexic.
9. When asked what his favourite lyric from any of his songs was, he replied, “That’s easy, All you need is love”.
10. In the last photo taken of him before his death, he was signing an album for a fan. The fan was none other than Mark David Chapman who was to shoot him in the back four times later that same day and kill him.

Related post: John Lennon Quotes

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