Forty years ago today The Beatles star John Lennon ‘s death shocked the entire world after he was gunned down by a crazed fan.
On December 8, 1980, Lennon was murdered by Mark Chapman who shot him outside his New York apartment block when he was just 40 years old.
At the time, the singer was entering his luxurious apartment in the Big Apple when an “awkward” Mark approached him.
Chapman shot him four times up close with a 38-caliber revolver at roughly 4.30pm.
Lennon was rushed to hospital but as he continued to lose blood, he died en-route.
Chapman was sent to prison for life and has admitted his crime was for “attention, bottom line” and he has since said he “regrets” killing Lennon.
John Lennon died 40 years ago today (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
But just two days before his death on December 6, Lennon underwent his last ever interview with British journalist Andy Peebles.
The interview for BBC Radio 1 was a big deal because it was the first the star had done in almost a decade and completely changed Peebles career.
At the time of Lennon’s death, Peebles was on his way home to the UK and heard of the star’s death after he landed at Heathrow.
The now 71-year-old recently spoke to MailOnline about the interview and opened up on how fascinated he had been by Lennon’s character.
Lennon had been deprived of affection during his childhood followed by a cynical adult life yet the star still knew how to write love songs with depth – something which truly struck an interest in Peebles.
The Beetles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Image: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Speaking to the publication, the journalist said: “John’s mother gave him away to her childless sister Mimi. Everybody wanted John for something, even when he was little. But not for love.
“He felt spat-out and irrelevant. He never grew out of that. He was a pawn in other people’s lives.
“He came to scorn those who showered him with affection. Presumably because he felt he didn’t deserve it… He wrote If I Fell and In My Life and the rest at such a tender age. But how did he know that true love is the essence of life and is something that money can’t buy?”
Peebles also recalled how Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono reportedly said to him that her husband’s killer was known to her because she had clocked that Chapman would often wait outside Lennon’s place for autographs and then flog them online.
Chillingly, when Peebles and the BBC team arrived at Lennon’s building on December 5, for a preliminary meeting, Chapman was one of the many fans standing outside his apartment block.
John and his wife Japanese-born artist and musician Yoko Ono, in December 1968 (Image: Getty Images)
Any recalled how Lennon looked “thin”, he recalled: “He put his arms around me and hugged me. He was warm, charming and polite, and as sharp as a scalpel. We got down to it.
“I was astonished by the outpouring from this man, who was clearly missing the homeland and his kin. Out it all came: reminiscences, themes, memories, messages to the folks back home. We slipped instantly into British slang. Yoko, amazed, fell silent.”
The interview lasted for an unprecedented three hours and 22 minutes with the Chinese dinner they ordered going cold because John insisted they keep talking.
Peebles said: “He told such great stories — about his childhood, his deep passion for Liverpool, his first group, The Quarrymen, his lifelong “sibling rivalry” with Paul, The Beatles’ time in Hamburg, finding Yoko, the bed-ins, the bag-ins, the miscarriages, even his sperm count!
“He spoke of his secret longing to have been a comedian, and his evolution into a more feminist, nicer person.
“He explained how he loved living in New York, and how much he missed England. He told me about McCartney turning up at the Dakota and ringing the doorbell, and John not letting him up, yelling down, ‘I’m baking bread and looking after the baby! If you think I’m coming out clubbing, you’ve gone mad!'”
Peeble continued: “This was a man in early middle age who had accomplished over the course of 20 years what most people could never imagine achieving in their entire lifetime.
“The group he founded was the greatest cultural and social phenomenon of all time. The Beatles were still as familiar to millions of people in every corner of the globe as their own names. Their music had never gone away.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
