John's date of birth is October 9, 1940. His parents were Julia and Alfred Lennon, but he was raised by Julia's sister, Mimi.
He grew up in Liverpool, England.
As a teen, John was a big fan of Elvis.
John and a few of his friends from school started the Quarry Men "skiffle" band in March of 1957. Shortly after, John met Paul McCartney, and they began writing songs together. This led to the beginnings of The Beatles.
John married his school sweetheart, Cynthia Powell, in 1962, and they had one son, Julian.
John's Aunt Mimi did not approve of Cynthia and did not attend their wedding.
In 1968, John began a relationship with the Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono. Later that same year, Cynthia filed for divorce.
John married Yoko in 1969. They later had a son, Sean.
John Lennon had many titles - English singer/songwriter, musician, artist, author, and political activist - his contributions to the world seem neverending. He is most widely known as one of the founders of the Beatles, along with Paul McCartney.
He wrote two books: In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works. These contained a collection of his stories and poems, which were meant to be humorous.
He had two sons, Julian, with his first wife, and Sean, with his second.
John continued to write many songs after the breakup of the Beatles. His most popular solo albums were Imagine and Double Fantasy. He moved to New York to live with Yoko Ono in the Dakota Building.
John's mother, Julia, was a cinema usherette; his father, Alfred, was a ship's steward. Shortly after the two got married, Alfred was back at sea. He wrote regularly and sent money to his wife, but their marriage was strained. Alfred was at sea when his son, John Winston Lennon, was born on October 9, 1940. Alfred's letters became less frequent. Julia, being a young and attractive woman, was not willing to sit at home and wait for her husband forever. A brief affair with another man led to the birth of a daughter, who was quickly put up for adoption. Soon after, she met and fell in love with John Dykins, a hotel waiter, and she and her son moved into his small apartment.
Julia's sister, Mimi, did not think the living conditions were suitable for young John, so she went to take him away. At first Julia refused to let her sister keep him, but the social services became involved, and she had no choice. Mimi took John to live with her in "Mendips," where she lived with her husband, George, on Menlove Avenue, Woolton.
For a while, John's life became a bit more stable. Mimi was strict, but George was more easygoing. He loved to play with John and provide encouragement for him. However, in July of 1946, Alfred Lennon showed up in Liverpool and persuaded Mimi to let him take five-year-old John to Blackpool for a day. Alfred's plan was to vanish with his son to New Zealand and begin a new life, but Julia showed up and put a stop to his plans. John watched as his parents argued over who was to have him, and Alfred asked him to choose which parent he wanted to live with. At first, John chose Fred, but when Julia left in tears, he went running after her. Julia carried her son back to Mimi's house, and it was to be many years before John would see his father again.
Julia continued to live with John Dykins, and they had two daughters, Julia and Jacqui. They lived near Mimi's house, and John got along well with his half-sisters.
When John first started school, he did well and stayed out of trouble. At the age of 11, when he started going to Quarry Bank, he began to have trouble - he didn't respect the teachers and he was short-sighted, but he hated wearing his glasses, so he usually couldn't see the blackboard. In 1955, his Uncle George died suddenly of a hemorrhage. John became worse, skipping classes and gaining a reputation as a troublemaker. Mimi was upset, but there was nothing she could do to change how he felt.
In the meantime, John started seeing his mother more often. She played the banjo a bit and taught John a few chords. He started to become more interested in music, encouraged by Julia and inspired by Elvis Presley. Mimi did not approve of it, because she saw no future for John in it.
A type of music called "skiffle" was very popular in Liverpool at the time, and John started a skiffle group with a few of his friends, The Quarry Men, in 1957. He met Paul McCartney in July of the same year, and shortly after, Paul joined the band, and he and John wrote songs together.
After leaving Quarry Bank, John started attending Liverpool College of Art in September of 1957. He only did a little better there than he had at his previous school; now his interest in rock'n'roll was overtaking everything else. At college, John became friendly with Stuart Sutcliffe and persuaded him to join the Quarry Men. Paul persuaded John to let George Harrison join the group as lead guitarist.
In July of 1958, Julia was hit by a car as she crossed the road on her way home from Mimi's house. She was killed instantly. Her death devastated John; he wasn't able to talk about it for many years.
John became seriously involved with a girl from the college, Cynthia Powell. It was an unlikely match; Cynthia was very proper and quiet - the total opposite of John. However, the attraction was mutual, and Cynthia soon took note of John's obsession with Brigitte Bardot - she dyed her hair blonde and started to dress more provocatively.
By 1960, the Quarry Men had changed their name to the Beatles and were earning some money. In August of that year, they were offered a playing job in Hamburg, Germany. They quickly enrolled Pete Best as their drummer and left for Hamburg.
By the end of 1961, the Beatles were making an impact in Liverpool. They got a manager and by October 1962, they had a record out and were due to appear on their first London TV program. They were still almost completely unknown outside their area.
Cynthia discovered that she was pregnant in 1962, so she and John were married on August 23, and Cynthia gave birth to John Charles Julian in early 1963. However, by this time, John was on a grueling schedule with the Beatles and hardly got the time to see his wife or his new son. It was much to Cynthia's displeasure when John agreed to go on holiday with Brian Epstein in Spain instead of spending his free time at home. The holiday led to the "gay" rumors - the holiday was completely innocent, but those that knew of Epstein's homosexuality starting causing rumors about John himself. Things got worse at Paul's twenty-first birthday party, where John punched DJ Bob Wooler after he made a remark about the holiday. The fight became front-page news in national newspapers, and John was quick to make a public apology.
In 1964, the Beatles conquered America. This was the year of their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. After their brief visit to America, the boys returned to England to begin work on their first movie, A Hard Day's Night. The title song was a Lennon-McCartney composition, sung by John.
When he wasn't writing songs, John was writing poems and stories or doodling. He'd already had several articles published and had written a column under the name "Beatcomber" in the Liverpool newspaper, Mersey Beat. In March of 1964, more of John's work was published in his first book, In His Own Write. It topped the bestseller list in England, and in April, a Foyle's literary luncheon was held in John's honor.
1940
October 9: John Winston Lennon born to Julia and Alfred Lennon at the Oxford Street Maternity Hospital, Liverpool.
1941
John is taken to live with his aunt and uncle, Mary (Mimi) and George at 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton.
1945
September: John starts attending school at Dovedale Primary, Liverpool.
1952
September: John starts attending Quarry Bank High School.
1955
June 5: John's Uncle George dies at the age of 52.
Skiffle music is popularized by Lonnie Donegan, and John's interest in it leads to the purchase of his first guitar.
1957
March: John forms his own skiffle group, the Quarry Men.
May 24: The Quarry Men make their first public performance at a street carnival on Roseberry Street, Liverpool.
July: John leaves Quarry Bank High School.
July 6: John meets Paul McCartney for the first time.
September: John enrolls at Liverpool College of Art.
1958
July 15: John's mother, Julia, is hit and killed by an automobile on her way home from Mimi's house.
1960
July: John leaves art college.
1961
October: John goes to Paris with Paul to stay for teo weeks.
December: On behalf of The Beatles, John accepts Brian Epstein's offer to manage them.
1962
August 23: John marries Cynthia Powell at Mount Pleasant Register Office, Liverpool.
1963
April 8: Cynthia gives birth to John's son, John Charles Julian Lennon.
April 28: John goes on holiday to Spain with Brian Epstein.
June 21: The Daily Mirror reports that John had beaten up a Cavern Club DJ, Bob Wooler, at Paul's recent birthday party. John hit him because he'd suggested that John was having an affair with Beatles manager Brian Epstein.
November 4: John makes his "rattle your jewelry" joke at the Royal Variety Performance in London.
December 27: John and Paul are described as "the outstanding English composers of 1963" in The Times.
1964
March 23: John's first book, In His Own Write, is published. It quickly sells out.
April 23: John attends a Foyle's literary luncheon, held in his honor.
July 15: John buys a mansion for himself and Cynthia - Kenwood, in Weybridge, Surrey.
1965
February 15: John passes his driving test.
June 24: John's second book, A Spaniard in the Works, is published.
1966
March 4: The Evening Standard publishes the interview with John by Maureen Cleave in which he states that the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus," the comment that caused a big stir in America.
July 29: The Maureen Cleave interview is published in the US teen magazine Datebook.
July 31: Radio stations in America's "Bible Belt" ban the Beatles' music and organize bonfires of their records and memorabilia in response to John's comments.
September 5: John goes to Germany to begin filming his part in How I Won the War.
November 9: John meets Yoko Ono at her exhibition, Unfinished Paintings and Objects, at the Indica Gallery in London.
1967
October 11: John anonymously sponsors one of Yoko Ono's exhibitions at the Lission Art Gallery, London.
October 18: How I Won the War premieres at the London Pavilion.
1968
January 5: John's father pays him a visit at his home in Weybridge. Alfred seeks John's blessing in marrying a nineteen-year-old Pauline Jones.
February 15: John goes to Rishikesh, India, along with Cynthia, George, and Pattie, to study meditation for three months with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
May 14: John denounces the Maharishi on public television and announces the formation of Apple Corps.
May 22: John and Yoko appear together in public for the first time, attending a party and press conference for the Apple Boutique.
July 1: John's first art exhibition, You Are Here, opens in London with the release of 365 balloons.
August 22: Cynthia sues John for divorce, citing his affair with Yoko.
October 25: John and Yoko announce that Yoko is pregnant.
November 8: John and Cynthia are divorced.
November 21: Yoko miscarries her child and John stays with her at the hospital.
November 29: John and Yoko's first album, Two Virgins, is released in the UK.
1969
January 3: Copies of Two Virgins are confiscated in New Jersey on the grounds that the photograph on the sleeve is pornographic.
March 20: John is married to Yoko in Gibraltar.
April 22: John changes his middle name to Ono at an official ceremony on the roof of the Apple building.
May 4: John and Yoko buy a mansion, Tittenhurst Park.
May 9: John's second album with Yoko, Life with the Lions, is released in the UK.
June 1: "Give Peace a Chance" is recorded by the Plastic Ono Band during a bed-in.
July 1: John, Yoko, Yoko's daughter, and Julian are involved in a car crash in Scotland and hospitalized until July 6.
September 13: John decides to quit the Beatles while on his way to a concert in Toronto with the Plastic Ono Band; he does not make his decision public.
1970
January 15: John's exhibition of lithographs, Bag One, opens in London.
January 16: Bag One is closed as police confiscate lithographs depicting John and Yoko, for reasons of obscenity.
1971
July: John records Imagine, mostly at Tittenhurst Park.
October 8: The LP Imagine is released in the UK.
December 4: John writes a letter attacking Paul in Melody Maker.
1973
October: John embarks upon his "lost weekend," in which he was separated from Yoko and flew to LA with May Pang.
1974
March 13: John is thrown out of a nightclub for disrupting a Smothers Brothers concert.
November 16: John has his first US solo number one with "Whatever Gets You Through the Night."
December 27: John, Julian, and May Pang holiday in Disneyland.
1975
January: John returns to Yoko in New York.
March 6: John issues a statement that his separation from Yoko is over.
October 9: Sean Taro Ono Lennon is born to John and Yoko.
1976
April 1: John's father, Alfred, dies in Brighton, England.
October: John decides to retire from music to focus on bringing up Sean.
1980
March 20: John and Yoko celebrate their eleventh anniversary in Florida; Yoko gives John a vintage Rolls Royce.
July: John begins to write music again.
August 4: John and Yoko begin work on a new album in Manhattan.
September 9: John and Yoko begin their huge Playboy interview.
November 17: The album Double Fantasy is released.
December 8: John is shot and killed outside the Dakota building.
December 10: John is cremated at Hartsdale Crematorium in New York.
December 14: Ten minutes of silence is observed around the world, at 7pm GMT, in memory of John.