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Discover the Legendary Beatle: Top 9 Fascinating and Unforgettable Fun Facts About John Lennon

illustration of john-lennon
Dive into the fascinating world of John Lennon with these quirky, lesser-known facts that will have you saying "Imagine that!"

1. Lennon's Art School Days

Before he was busy giving peace a chance, Lennon was happily doodling and dabbling in the creative arts, potentially inspiring new ways to "come together": John Lennon honed his talent at Liverpool College of Art, meeting his future best friend, Stuart Sutcliffe – who coined 'The Beatles' name – and his first wife, Cynthia Powell, who supported him during the whirlwind of Beatlemania.
Source => liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

2. Spaghetti Scene in Magical Mystery Tour

Order up some surreal spaghetti: John Lennon's penchant for impromptu pasta performances took center stage during the filming of Magical Mystery Tour when he dreamed of being a waiter who relentlessly piled spaghetti onto a bewildered woman's plate, and the peculiar scene was ultimately included in the movie, adding to the whimsy of its largely improvised script.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

3. Ski Trip Inspires "Norwegian Wood"

When John Lennon decided to give a skiing holiday the "cold shoulder", he'd rather let it "slide" into writing a song that would soon "peak" the charts: "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" was written during a ski vacation in the Swiss Alps with Paul McCartney. The song features quirky lyrics and a sitar played by George Harrison, who painstakingly figured out a catchy lick that blended seamlessly into the tune.
Source => beatlesebooks.com

4. Wild Recording Session for "Give Peace a Chance"

Forget "A Hard Day's Night," John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" recording session was more like a feel-good, overcrowded, loony tunes party: In a hotel room filled with dozens of journalists and celebs like Timothy Leary, Petula Clark, Allen Ginsberg, and even Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers, Lennon strummed his acoustic guitar while a local engineer, André Perry, improvised with four microphones and a four-track tape recorder to deal with the terrible acoustics and raucous background noise.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

McCartney Dreams Up "Yesterday"

5. McCartney Dreams Up "Yesterday"

Talk about a sleeper hit: Paul McCartney quite literally dreamt up the melody to "Yesterday," only claiming it as his own after weeks of fruitlessly seeking any plagiarized origins. The iconic ballad we now associate with The Beatles stands out as not only the first solo endeavor by any member, but also for its unique choice of string quartet accompaniment coupled with only McCartney's own vocals and acoustic guitar.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

6. Lennon's Spaghetti Obsession

In a world where breakfast is for champions, John Lennon dethroned the cereal box and slurped victory with a fork: He was an outspoken advocate for spaghetti and tomato sauce, devouring it for every meal with such fervor that he might as well have been sipping red wine from the Fountain of Youth. Though short in stature, his towering talent and impressive performance IQ of 137(sd15) made him truly stand tall among artistic giants - even if those rumors about him claiming to be "the tallest Beatle" on a Japanese TV show are just some twisting tall tale.
Source => benvaughn.com

7. Luxury Rolls-Royce Features

When John Lennon wasn't busy giving peace a chance, he was giving luxury a whirl: his Rolls-Royce Phantom V boasted a backseat-turned-double bed, giant ashtrays for those groovy cig breaks, a top-of-the-line "floating" record player, a swanky tape player, a radio telephone, and a honk that played "Lilli Marlene" for good vibes only.
Source => rollingstone.com

8. Lennon and Ono's Bed-In Protest

Whoever said "Give peace a chance" must have had John Lennon in mind: The legendary musician, alongside his avant-garde artist wife Yoko Ono, once orchestrated an entire week of cozying up in their jammies in an Amsterdam hotel room, all to make a very public anti-war statement and promote harmony around the globe.
Source => cbat.eps.harvard.edu

9. Lennon Buys an Irish Island

Before he was "imagining" world peace, John Lennon fancied himself as an Irish island landlord with psychedelic caravans: In 1967, he purchased Dorinish Island off the coast of Ireland for £1,700, planning to build a retirement home there, but ended up offering a colorfully painted caravan to the founder of the Digger Action Movement, Sid Rawle, in 1972. Unfortunately, a fire caused by a dropped oil lamp destroyed the island's dwellings, and Lennon's plan to revisit the island with his wife Yoko Ono before his untimely death in 1980 never materialized. Ono eventually sold the island for £30,000.
Source => thejournal.ie

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