It was 44 years ago today . . .

On the evening of 8 December 1980, former Beatle, John Lennon, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota building, his home in New York City.

John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940) in Liverpool, was a singer-songwriter, musician and political activist.

He gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.

Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, was an American Beatles fan who was envious and enraged by Lennon’s lifestyle, alongside his 1966 comment that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”.

Chapman said he was inspired by the fictional character Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, a “phony-killer” who loathes hypocrisy.