John Lennon’s sudden death shocked the world when news broke on December 8, 1980. 39 years on, as fans celebrate The Beatle’s icon’s legacy, an unearthed interview with his widow, Yoko Ono, sees her speaking out about the course of that fateful evening.
Earlier that day, esteemed photographer Annie Leibovitz arrived at The Dakota,where Lennon and Ono lived, for a photoshoot.
The photoshoot produced one of the most famous pictures of the couple, showing a naked Lennon curled around Ono and kissing her as she lies on her back on the floor of their apartment.
The photo would end up on the cover of Rolling Stone, immortalising the day and the pair’s relationship.
In the early afternoon, staff from San Francisco’s RKO Radio arrived to interview The Beatles star and, at around 4.30pm, the couple left their home to head to the Record Plant studio to work on their new song, Walking On Thin Ice.
READ: JOHN LENNON: YOKO ONO SAYS RELATIONSHIP ‘RUINED’ HER CAREER
As they left The Dakota, Lennon was stopped by the man who would later kill him, Mark Chapman.
Chapman held out the album for an autograph and the musician signed it before leaving to head to the recording session.
Later that night, Lennon and Ono returned home and, as they made their way from their car to the building, Chapman shot him twice in the shoulder and twice in the back.
Although he was rushed almost immediately to the nearby Roosevelt Hospital, doctors were unable to resuscitate the Imagine hitmaker and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Chapman, meanwhile, waited at the scene for police to arrive and arrest him.
In an interview for filmmaker Michael Waldman’s documentary, The Day John Lennon Died, Ono recalled the horrific events of that night, noting a decision which some might have thought could have changed the outcome.
Remembering the drive back from the studio to their home, she said: “When we were in the car, I said shall we then go to a restaurant before we go home?”
“He said, ‘No, I want to see Sean [Lennon, their son] before he goes to sleep.’”
DON’T MISS…
John Lennon’s wife Yoko’s CLASH with Elton after his death [AUTOBIOGRAPHY]
John Lennon’s fury over Paul McCartney announcing band’s split [UNEARTHED]
Although Ono remembered thinking Sean was probably asleep by then, she said, had they gone to a restaurant instead of straight home, it wouldn’t have changed the course of events.
“Even if we went to the restaurant — doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “It didn’t make us avoid anything horrible.
“The car stopped and we got out of the car,” she continued, pausing. “It was really terrible.”
In the documentary, the policeman who arrived at the scene of Lennon’s murder said he saw the star being carried out of the vestibule face up and covered in blood, saying that was the moment he realised who the victim was.
A year after fatally shooting Lennon, Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at trial and was sentenced to 20 years to life,
He is still in prison and was denied parole for the 10th time in summer 2018.
At the time, the parole board panel said that, while he had a clean prison record since 1994, this did not outweigh “the gravity of [his]actions or the serious and senseless loss of life” he had caused.
They also found his release “would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law”.
