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The Beatles · S1 E1
October 9, 1940
John Winston Lennon is born during a Luftwaffe air raid on Liverpool. His mother Julia hands him to her sister Mimi, and the wound that shapes his entire life begins
Liverpool Maternity Hospital, October 9, 1940. The city is in the middle of the Blitz, with air raids hitting Merseyside regularly. Julia Lennon gives birth to a boy she names John Winston.
John Lennon sits at a white grand piano in a white room, playing the most famous peace anthem ever written. The boy born in wartime Liverpool grew up to imagine a world without conflict.
Imagine (1971)
John recorded this at his home studio in Tittenhurst Park, Ascot, with Klaus Voormann on bass and Alan White on drums. The seed came from Yoko Ono's book Grapefruit, a collection of conceptual art instructions built around the word "imagine." John later acknowledged she deserved a co-writing credit, which was officially added in 2017. Phil Spector produced it with deliberate restraint: no Wall of Sound, just a piano and a voice.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why was John given the middle name Winston?
What made Liverpool a primary target for German bombing during World War II?
Julia (The Beatles)
From The White Album (1968). John's acoustic tribute to his mother, the woman who gave him life and then gave him away. He sings her name over finger-picked guitar, borrowing a line from Kahlil Gibran: "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."
John Winston Lennon is born into a wartime city, a father at sea, and a mother who will soon make a decision that shapes his entire life. Next: June 18, 1942, and the arrival of James Paul McCartney.
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