John Lennon
John Winston Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was a Liverpudlian musician and songwriter known for his tenure with the Beatles. He later started another band with his second wife Yoko Ono. His work was one of the most widely known and studied music of the late industrial era and early information age.
Biography
The Sixth Doctor jammed with the Beatles in Hamburg before they were big. (PROSE: Gone Too Soon)
The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble went to see Lennon perform with the Beatles at the Cavern Club in 1963. Donna got him to sign a future album on compact disc. (COMIC: The Time of My Life) In the same year, the Tenth Doctor took Martha Jones to see a performance by the Beatles. (COMIC: Signs of Life)
In early 1964, the Beatles' song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was knocked off the top of the British charts by the Dave Clark Five song "Glad All Over," which peaked at No. 6 in the United States. (AUDIO: Threshold)
By 13 July 1964, the Beatles had sold out the first leg of their United Kingdom tour. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?)
John Lennon and the other Beatles performed their song "Ticket to Ride" on the 13 May 1965 instalment of Top of the Pops, introduced by Jimmy Savile. (TV: The Chase)
In 1969, the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace prevented Lennon and the other Beatles from being murdered during their Let it Be rooftop concert at the Apple Records building in London. However, Lennon was later shot and killed by the possessed assassin Mark David Chapman in New York City on 8 December 1980. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird) At some point during the concert, time distortion from the Rift Manipulator transported the Beatles to the roof of the same building in early 2008. They were sent back after Torchwood opened up the Cardiff Rift. (TV: End of Days)
For some time, Lennon was trapped in Psychespace after dreaming about it too much. He was only freed with the help of the Eleventh Doctor's companion Amy Pond. (COMIC: Forever Dreaming)
In 1970, Paul McCartney left the Beatles. They acquired two new members, Billy and Klaus. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune)
Mark David Chapman, manipulated by Huitzilin, shot ex-Beatle John Lennon outside his hotel on 8 December 1980. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)
Shortly after he died, Lennon told the Doctor that "talent borrows, genius steals." (PROSE: Eye of Heaven)
In the distant future, the First Doctor and his companions Vicki Pallister, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright watched Lennon's 13 May 1965 appearance on Top of the Pops, via the Time-Space Visualiser. Vicki commented that a museum dedicated to the Beatles existed in 25th century Liverpool. (TV: The Chase)
Minor references
Susan Foreman liked John Lennon. (PROSE: Time and Relative)
The DJ of Tranquil Repose had a poster of John Lennon in his broadcasting studio. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond travelled to 1963 to meet the Beatles, but were diverted into an alternate timeline created by the Daleks. Amy had wanted to see John Lennon, the Doctor suggesting Ringo. (GAME: City of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
- John Lennon, in a manner of speaking, played himself on Doctor Who in the form of archival footage of a Beatles concert shown in The Chase.
- Originally, The Chase was going to feature The Beatles wearing old age makeup and playing themselves as old men in the late 20th century. However, the idea was quickly denied by the band's manager, Brian Epstein. Had the idea come to fruition, it, sadly, would have become anachronistic given Lennon's murder in 1980.
- An early 1960s photo shows John Lennon posing next to a Dalek.
- Ninth Doctor actor Christopher Eccleston played Lennon in the television film Lennon Naked alongside Naoko Mori, who had played Toshiko Sato on Doctor Who and Torchwood.
- The novel PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune suggests that in the Whoniverse, the Beatles continued as a group after 1970, with Paul McCartney leaving the group and two new members replacing him.
