Lennon, who grew up at Mendips on Menlove Avenue, remains a much-loved icon around the world and fans often gather to remember the musician on this day.
Following Lennon’s death, fellow Beatle George Harrison was quoted as saying: “After all we went through together I had, and still have, great love and respect for him.
"I am shocked and stunned. To rob life is ultimate robbery."
Last year, Sir Paul McCartney told The Jonathan Ross Show about his memories of the night Lennon died. He said: “I was at home and I got a phone call. It was just so horrific, you couldn’t take it in and for days I couldn’t think that he was gone.
"It was just a huge shock, then I had to tell Linda [his late wife] and the kids and it was very difficult.”
Nine facts about the death of John Lennon
- Lennon was shot outside the Dakota building, in New York, where he lived with Yoko Ono and their son Sean
- Earlier that evening he had signed an album for killer Mark Chapman, outside the building
- Lennon and Ono were going to eat out that night, but had decided to go home to say goodnight to their son Sean before he went to bed.
- The couple could have got out of their limousine in a secure courtyard - but instead chose to step out on 72nd Street, where killer Chapman was waiting.
- As Lennon walked into the building, Chapman fired five bullets - only one missed.
- After being shot, Lennon staggered up five steps to the reception area of the building, where he then collapsed.
- After the shooting, Chapman simply removed his coat and hat, and waited calmly for the police.
- A team of doctors spent around 15 minutes trying to resuscitate Lennon, but his injuries were too severe.
- Witnesses said that at the moment Lennon was pronounced dead, the Beatles song “All My Loving” came on the hospital’s sound system.
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