Tag: Yoko Ono

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December 8, 1980 — John Lennon is shot and killed

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Mark David Chapman is, by any standard, an idiot. On this day in 1980, he shot John Lennon five times, in the back, while Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono looked on helplessly.

Whatever his actual motive for shooting John Lennon – and Chapman has contradicted himself on several occasions regarding it – the fact remains that he achieved only two things: depriving the world of a truly great musical talent, and giving the rest of the world one more reason to loathe American culture.

The fact that he has not been shanked in the yard at Attica State Prison only serves to underscore the massive injustice of Lennon’s death.

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March 25, 1969 — John and Yoko stage their first Bed-In

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After getting married on March 20, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono proceeded to have possibly the strangest honeymoon ever.

From their room in the Amsterdam Hilton (room 902, the Presidential Suite), they held a series of press conferences each day from March 25 to March 31. Between 9am and 9pm each day, they invited the press into their room, where the couple discussed peace (especially in regards to Vietnam) while sitting in their bed. The wall above them was decorated with signs reading “Hair Peace” and “Bed Peace”.

It’s unclear exactly what effect, if any, this all had on the outcome of the Vietnam War. If nothing else, Lennon’s astute use of his celebrity to get his message out certainly helped to raise the issue’s profile, although it’s arguable he was preaching almost entirely to the converted – by 1969, pretty much everyone already had an opinion about Vietnam…

John Lennon en zijn echtgenote Yoko Ono op huwelijksreis in Amsterdam. John Lenn, Bestanddeelnr 922-2302.jpg
By Eric Koch / Anefo – <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external free” href=”http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ab63599e-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84″>http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ab63599e-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84</a>, CC0, Link

As mentioned in:

The Ballad of John and Yoko — The Beatles

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March 20, 1969 — John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry

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One of the most controversial relationships in modern cultural history, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s love began inauspiciously, as an affair (Lennon was already married at the time) characterised by the usual deception and unthinking cruelty of such things, and notable for Ono’s miscarriage in 1968 (a few weeks after Lennon’s divorce). With Ono, Lennon became more activist, protesting the Vietnam War in particular.

The two were married in Gibraltar, and their honeymoon was spent in the Hilton Hotel of Amsterdam, conducting their now-legendary Bed In for Peace. How much influence Ono had over Lennon in the ongoing dissolution of the Beatles in this era remains a matter of dispute. There seems little doubt that she may have exacerbated existing strains, but it is unlikely that she was solely responsible (as some have claimed). Lennon and Ono would remain married until Lennon’s death in 1980.

John Lennon en echtgenote Yoko Ono vertrekken van Schiphol naar Wenen in de vert, Bestanddeelnr 922-2496 (cropped).jpg
By Joost Evers / Anefo – <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external free” href=”http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ab63feee-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84″>http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ab63feee-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84</a>, CC0, Link

As mentioned in:

The Ballad of John and Yoko — The Beatles