The day John Lennon died, on this day 40 years ago

On December 8, 1980, the world was shocked with the news of the murder of former Beatle, John Lennon.  Purported plans of a Beatles reunion were dashed when Mark David Chapman fired five shots at Lennon while the latter was walking into his home, an apartment in Manhattan, together with his wife Yoko Ono.   Chapman, an avid Beatle fan, had been angered by Lennon’s lavish lifestyle and by such historic statements that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ.   Although Lennon had declared this years before, in a March 1966 interview, Chapman ruminated on such an outrageous statement. The lyrics of the mega-hit, Imagine in which Lennon ‘imagined’ a peaceful world without religions, was also offensive for Chapman.   The murderer did not flee the murder scene as he calmly stood by reading J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye while Lennon breathed his last and Yoko Ono screamed for help.   It turned out that Chapman’s role model was Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist of the Salinger novel.  This fictional character became an icon of teenage rebellion and developed into his role model.   [attach id=959537 size="large" align="left" type="image"]Every December 8, flowers...