Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

- John Lennon

I’m John Winston Lennon, named after my grandfather, and with this quote I’ve

tried to tell people that if you enjoy doing something, it’s not just a waste of time. I was

born during wartime England, on 9 October 1940, at Liverpool Maternity Hospital.

Growing up I had a crazy life. My mother wasn’t around very much and I spent most of

my time with my aunt, Mimi. After Mimi complained to Liverpool's Social Services

twice, my mother, Julia, gave her custody of me. In July 1946, my father visited her and

took me to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with me.

I was raised by my Aunt Mimi, and her husband. My mother visited me from time to

time, but when I turned 11 I started visiting her. She played me Elvis Records and taught

me to play the banjo. When I was 16, she bought me my first guitar. But when I was 17

she was hit by a car and died.

In school, I formed a band called The Quarrymen with a few of my classmates.

We played a mix of skiffle and rock and roll. I met Paul McCartney at one of our first

gigs and asked him to join the band. Paul recommended his friend George Harrison. At

first I thought George Harrison was too young to play with us, given that he was a full

two years younger. But once I heard him play I knew I wanted him in my band.

In the early 60’s we changed our name from the Quarrymen to the Beatles and

played shows in Germany for over a month. Later I joked that when I was 12, I had a

dream where a man standing on a pie said, “From now on, you are The Beatles with an

A.” We went from the edgy skiffle band to wearing our iconic suits our manager

recommended. Ringo Starr then joined us as our drummer and we had our first hit single

“Love Me Do.”
 The four of us had some crazy adventures for the next 15 years, spending most of

our time together. From recording songs with colds, inventing music videos and

recording a couple of films together, we never had a dull moment.

After a while we started growing tired of each other. Paul and I were the brains of

the band for the most part and eventually we started wanting different things for the band.

I felt like he was straying from the Rock and Roll. We had too many differences and

couldn’t function as a team anymore. Especially when I started dating Yoko Ono. Once

Yoko and I got married, I decided to leave the band. I waited to make my split from the

Beatles public until a year later, in 1970, when my debut solo album was released.

I started the Beatles, its only right that I should be the one who ended it.

I spent the next 10 years of my life in New York with my wife working on my

solo career and using my platform as a celebrity to be a social advocate. I was not shy in

expressing my disapproval of war and wrote many songs about it. I wasn’t a fan of Nixon

and his involvement in a useless war with Vietnam. He accused me of spreading

propaganda and tried to get me deported from my home in New York.

On December 8th, 1980, I was coming home from a day at the recording studio

with my wife. On our way inside, I was shot 4 times by Mark David Chapman, a fan who

I signed an autograph for earlier that day. I was immediately rushed to the hospital but

died before I arrived.

My legacy continued long after I died and can only hope I will be remembered for

the rest of time.

I was known as the founding member of two bands: The Quarrymen and The Beatles.

I won two Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum awards. One in 1988, and one in
1994. I won an Oscar award in 1971. I also won four Grammy awards. One in 1964, one

in 1966, one in 1967, and one in 1981.

“If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliché that should have been left

behind in the '60s, that's a problem. Peace and love are eternal.” -John Lennon

The lesson you should learn from my life is that whether or not you are rich and famous,

you should still spread peace and love.