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Milestones in the life of Joh n Lennon

1940John born on 9 October to Julia and Freddie Lennon in war-torn Liverpool.

1941John lives in Newcastle Road, Liverpool with his mother and maternal grandparents.

1942John’s seafaring father Freddie is still away at sea.

1943Julia begins a relationship with a Welsh soldier stationed in Liverpool, Taffy Williams.

1944Julia gives birth to a girl (Victoria) with Williams the father; the child was given up for adoption.

1945Julia and John move in with Bobby Dykins.

1946Due to the intervention by Social Services over the common-law living arrangements of Julia and Bobby, John goes to live with Julia’s sister Mimi and her husband George at Mendips in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton.

1947Mimi changes John’s school, which meant he became further away from his mother’s home.

1948At school John becomes ill-disciplined and aggressive.

1949John immerses himself in books, poetry and story writing, which became a refuge from his emotional turmoil.

1950Mimi takes in lodgers from the local university, meaning she and George sleep downstairs while John’s upstairs box room is flanked by rooms containing students.

1951John passes Eleven Plus exam, which gains him entrance into Quarry Bank, the local grammar school.

1952John forms a gang: he is influenced by his story book hero Just William. John is the leader.

1953John’s poor discipline, shoddy class work and bullying behaviour continue at Quarry Bank.

1954John discovers his mother lives only a mile away from Mendips.

1955A skiffle craze hits the UK and John is one of the 10,000s of youngsters who form skiffle groups.

1956John discovers rock ’n’ roll and Elvis, and while playing at a local fête with his band The Quarrymen, he meets up with Paul McCartney.

1957John starts at Liverpool Art College. John’s Quarrymen now includes Paul’s friend, George Harrison.

1958In the summer John, Paul and George ‘cut a disc’ at a local recording studio. The next day his mother is involved in a fatal car accident.

1959The group change their name from The Quarrymen to The Silver Beetles and conduct a short tour of Scotland.

1960The name of John’s band changes again to The Beatles. Pete Best joins on drums as they embark on a 12-week engagement at the Indra club in Hamburg.

1961Brian Epstein visits The Cavern Club where The Beatles had become the club’s resident band and offers to be their manager.

1962Brian secures a recording contract with Parlophone Records for the band. John marries Cynthia. Ringo Starr joins The Beatles as Pete Best is sacked weeks before the release of the group’s first single ‘Love Me Do’.

1963The second and third release of The Beatles’ singles, ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘She Loves You’, ignites the beginning of Beatlemania. John’s son Julian is born.

1964The Beatles arrive in New York for The Ed Sullivan Show and a TV audience of 73 million. The same year sees the cinema release of the group’s film A Hard Day’s Night.

1965John’s confessional song ‘Help!’ becomes the title for the band’s next feature film of the same name. The Beatles become heavy users of marijuana and begin to experiment with LSD.

1966The band stop touring and The Beatles’ music takes on a major sea change with their album Revolver, its direction being foreshadowed by its precursor, Rubber Soul, the previous year.

1967The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released against the backdrop of the counterculture hippy movement and general alternative lifestyles of young people.

1968The Beatles immerse themselves in Indian culture and meditation. In July of this year Brian Epstein dies due to an overdose of barbiturates. John takes a strong interest in the avant-garde and meets Yoko Ono. The band produce a double album commonly known as the White Album.

1969The personal and musical differences in the band along with complex financial issues means that the last two Beatles albums come out in reverse order, the last album Abbey Road appearing before the previously recorded Let it Be. John marries Yoko and uses his honeymoon as a vehicle to promote his new-found support for world peace.

1970John continues to go his separate way from The Beatles socially and musically, committing himself more to Yoko and his solo efforts. On 31 December, Paul applies to the High Court for the dissolution of The Beatles.

1980John shot dead outside the Dakota building in New York.