John Lennon's Last Day

It's just after 10:30 p.m.

at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.

Dr.

David Holleran, a surgeon at the hospital, stops his late night consultation after hearing the sound of his pager.

It's the emergency department.

A patient is incoming in the back of a police car with multiple gunshot wounds.

They need David's skills immediately.

David rushes toward an elevator and rides down to the emergency room.

He makes his way to room 115 just as the patient is wheeled inside.

Assessing the damage, David orders and preps for a thoracotomy to cut open the patient's chest.

Immediately, David notes two things.

First, the sheer loss of blood from this man in his early 40s.

The second is the clothing of the patient in front of him.

The man is wearing a stylish leather jacket, a red t-shirt and jeans.

He's much better dressed than the vast majority of gunshot wound victims David usually sees.

And as he often does, David wonders what could have brought this man into the ER.

Whatever it is, he hopes he can save this patient's life.

But things don't look good.

As the patient's clothes are stripped off, David finds no pulse and no blood pressure.

He notes four entrance wounds over the patient's left chest, three exit wounds through the back.

The surgical team passes David a scalpel.

He makes an incision and expands the chest cavity.

And then he begins using his hands to massage the man's heart.

As David continues this life-saving effort, a nurse remarks how much the patient reminds her of the world-famous musician and ex-Beatle, John Lennon, a man whose face has appeared on almost every TV and magazine in the world.

David doesn't see the resemblance, but the other staff's curiosity is piqued by the nurse's comment.

They check the patient's wallet and discover to their horror that the man is in fact John Lennon.

The news knocks the wind out of David, but his focus on his job doesn't change.

He continues to perform every possible life-saving procedure he can, but it will be too late.

Despite the best efforts of the medical team at the Roosevelt Hospital, the decision will soon be made that there's nothing more anyone can do.

John Lennon has already lost over 80% of his blood.

His killer's bullets severed major blood vessels below his collarbone, and after 45 minutes on the operating table, John Lennon will be pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.

on December 8, 1980.

From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day.

On this podcast, Every Day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is December 8th, 1980, John Lennon's last day.

It's the morning of December 8th, 1980, in the New York apartment of musicians John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

John stares out of the window of the couple's happy home, admiring the panoramic view.

He's deep in thought when his wife, Yoko, enters and embraces him.

As they discuss plans for breakfast, Yoko notes that John is even more contemplative than usual.

Perhaps it's because of the busy day ahead.

The couple discuss their agenda.

Their plans include a photo shoot and a recording session where the couple will work on Yoko's latest song, Walking on Thin Ice.

But first John wants to eat, so the two make plans to go to Cafe La Fortuna, one of John's favorite spots in the city he's called home for nearly a decade.

In 1971, two years after John decided to leave the Beatles, he and Yoko moved to New York.

Four years later, John turned his back on the music business altogether.

The man who along with his songwriting partner, Paul McCartney, had shaped pop music for decades had grown tired of the show business game.

As part of the Beatles, John played to sold out crowds all over the world, selling more records than any band in history and receiving almost every music award available.

But his fame and success did little to quell John's more challenging personality traits.

He was a known womanizer, even during his time with Yoko.

He also had dependency issues with alcohol and drugs.

It took a trial separation with Yoko to get John to reassess his life.

Known as his lost weekend, the 14 month bender in which John drank and partied his way through Santa Monica was a transformative experience.

In the end, John returned to New York in 1975, a changed man.

Not long after his return, Yoko gave birth to their first child, Sean.

At this point, John was estranged from his first son, Julian, born to John's first wife.

But his shift in mindset caused John to reach out to Julian.

He was ready to slowly start making amends for some of the mistakes he's made.

And for the first time in a long time, John found peaceful contentment away from the spotlight.

He became a stay-at-home dad, baking bread, playing with his new child, and trying to reconnect with Julian.

His days were filled with nothing remarkable.

He sketched, wrote, and learned to sail.

But after a trip to Bermuda, in which he nearly drowned, the call of music came back to John.

A few months ago, he returned to the studio to record a new album with Yoko.

Now the couple is in full publicity mode.

After their breakfast at Cafe La Fortuna, John stops by the barbers for a quick haircut before meeting up with Yoko at their apartment for a shoot with renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz.

There are some talk that Annie can get John on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, if it's just John in the photograph, but John is reluctant to do any work without his wife.

And when John refuses the suggestion, Annie doesn't put up a fight.

Instead, the three work up an idea for a good couple shot.

John suggests another naked shoot.

When Yoko shows hesitancy, John proposes that Yoko be fully clothed while he lies nude next to her.

All three agree the resulting photo is one of the best they've ever taken together.

With John commenting, it perfectly captures his and Yoko's relationship.

After the shoot, John and Yoko meet a journalist at their apartment for a radio interview.

The conversation lasts over three hours as John chats about everything from Sean watching Sesame Street to what it feels like being back in the studio.

And when the subject of John's mortality comes up, John remarks that he hopes his death won't be for a very long time to come.

With the interview done, John and Yoko leave to get food again before heading to the studio to work on Yoko's next project.

Upon leaving their home though, John is stopped by two fans.

Despite his time away from the spotlight, John is still recognized everywhere he goes.

He identifies one of the fans instantly, a young man who often says hi to John and asks for photos.

John happily stops again for a picture.

The second fan, wearing a large coat and sunglasses, seems much more nervous.

He holds in his hands a copy of John and Yoko's new album, Double Fantasy.

John asks the fan if he wants the album signed.

And without a word, the fan nods and passes it over.

John scrawls his name on the record and hands it back.

In less than five hours, this fan in the large coat and sunglasses will return to John and Yoko's building armed with not a record, but a 38 caliber revolver.

He'll fire five times, hitting John four.

The bullets will lead to an insurmountable blood loss for John, who will quickly die, leaving a gaping hole in the lives of his family and his many fans around the world.

It's December 8th, 1980, just before 9 p.m.

at The Record Plant, a music studio in New York City.

John sits behind the mixing desk, dancing in his chair to an early cut of his wife's new single, Walking on Thin Ice.

It's a propulsive track, experimental and avant-garde, giving John just enough of a beat to sway and move his body in time with the music.

He does so with a large grin on his face.

When the track reaches its climax, John turns to his wife and tells her that she's just made her first number one hit.

John and Yoko are riding high on the recent release of Double Fantasy, their first major work in five years.

The album tells the story of their separation and how they found each other again.

More than any other record John has recorded, this one is a celebration of a simple domestic life and it represents John enjoying making music again.

And at the record plant, with Yoko making the music she loves, John finds himself in his element.

After playback ends, John badgers their producer to try and get the track out before Christmas.

Admiring John's enthusiasm, their producer suggests a little more work on the song.

John and Yoko agree to come back early the next morning to finish it off.

But before they all leave, their producer has a piece of good news he's been saving.

Double Fantasy has just gone gold, selling over 500,000 copies.

John and Yoko leave in high spirits.

The couple take a limo back to their building overlooking Central Park.

And at 10:50 p.m., John and Yoko enter via the front of the building.

John carries cassettes from the day's recording lagging behind Yoko by a few yards.

As they enter the building, they're waiting for John, is the young fan from earlier in the day.

The 25-year-old man is still in his large coat and sunglasses, but this time he holds a revolver in his hands.

He calls John's name and starts to fire.

Four of the bullets hit their target and John is thrown to the ground by the impact.

Still conscious, John cries out for help.

Yoko rushes over to find him bleeding profusely.

She alerts the security guard and within minutes police are at the building.

They find the gunman sitting quietly on the building steps, reading a copy of Catcher in the Rye.

He doesn't resist arrest.

Seeing how much blood John has lost, the first two officers have a difficult decision to make.

Wait for the ambulance or move him to the back of their squad car in the hope of getting him to the hospital in time.

They choose the latter.

John makes it to Roosevelt Hospital, passing in and out of consciousness.

And by the time of his arrival, he's already lost over half of the blood in his body.

An emergency thoracomy is called by the resident surgeon who attempts to massage life back into John's heart, but with no pulse or blood pressure, everything he tries fails.

Meanwhile, Yoko waits for the terrible news that comes all too quickly.

At 11:15 p.m., only 25 minutes after he was shot, the medical staff inform her that her husband is dead.

Yoko howls in pain.

The man she loved and spent years with, the father of her five-year-old boy, was no longer there to love and hold.

Friends rush to be by her side as reports of John's death begin to leak.

Announcers all over the world break the shocking news and special bulletins.

Those in England, including John's former bandmate and best friend Paul McCartney, wait to the tragedy.

And when Ringo Starr, the drummer for The Beatles, is told the news while in the Bahamas, he flies home immediately to try and offer some comfort to Yoko.

The public reaction to John Lennon's death will be seismic.

Presidents and prime ministers will give their reactions as millions of fans mourn.

All the while, the rest of The Beatles will never again get to see the man they once called their brother.

Yoko will have to face a life without her husband, and Sean and Julian will have to live with the tragic consequences of losing their father.

Thanks.

It's early on the morning of December 9th, 1980, at John and Yoko's apartment building in New York City.

Yoko rubs her swollen eyes.

She spent the night in tears as crowds amassed in front of her home.

Songs by the Beatles have been played long into the night, John's voice echoing into their bedroom.

In the few hours since her husband's murder, Yoko has had tough decisions to make about the best course of action.

She's spoken to friends and family members there to offer support.

She's asked for peace and love, and for those who cared about John to pray for him.

But the toughest task still lies ahead.

She has to somehow tell her son that his father is no longer with them.

Seeing his mother is distraught, Sean asks where his father is.

Yoko replies simply, your father is dead.

She then leads the small boy to the spot where John collapsed and attempts to explain how a very confused man chose to take John's life.

The next day, Yoko pulls up in her limousine to collect her husband's ashes from Ferncliff Cemetery just north of the Bronx.

She has already issued a statement to say there will be no public funeral.

The mass of people outside her home, coupled with deranged threats on her own life, let her know that this was the right decision.

Then, as the days go on, John's killer, longtime Beatle fan Mark Chapman, will be assessed for psychiatric issues.

A case of schizophrenia will be identified as one likely reason behind the crime.

Chapman's own pursuit of fame another.

And despite advice from his lawyers to plead insanity, Chapman will not, and he will eventually be sentenced to life in prison.

But meanwhile, on December 14th, millions of fans will pay their respects to John with a 10-minute silent vigil as requested by Yoko.

Every radio station in New York will honor the silence.

And at the same time as vigils in Liverpool and Berlin, over a quarter of a million fans will congregate in Central Park where in 1985, a portion of the grounds will be dedicated to John Lennon's memory.

John's legacy will endure as will his discography.

43 years after his death, a new Beatles record using artificial intelligence technology to isolate John's vocals will be released and hit number one on the charts.

Titled Now and Then, the song was one of John's demo tracks given to the Beatles in 1994 by Yoko.

At the time, they had to shelve it because of difficulties mixing the song, but new technologies will open new possibilities.

And at the age of 90, Yoko will be happy to see her late husband's music revived.

Seeing it as a way to keep John's spirit alive, Yoko even passed his tragic death on December 8, 1980.

Next on History Daily, December 11th, 1978, a group of masked men robbed the Lufthansa cargo building, making off with millions in cash and jewelry.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily.

Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Sound design by Molly Bach.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nichols.

Executive producers are Alexandra Curry Buckner for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.