1 / 18 photos John Lennon Photo Gallery

Lennon was considered the leader of The Beatles, as he founded the original group. McCartney said, 'We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader - he was the quickest wit and the smartest and all that kind of thing.'

Policemen struggle to restrain young Beatles fans outside Buckingham Palace as The Beatles receive their MBEs (Member of the British Empire) in 1965. John Lennon later returned his MBE in September 1969, in protest against British politics.

John Lennon posing on ski slopes for United Artist's Help!

Teenagers gather at a ‘Beatles Burning,’ staged by WAYX-AM, where records, books, and wigs are burned in a bonfire in response to John Lennon's comment that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the Indian mystic who introduced British pop group The Beatles to transcendental meditation. Here he sits with George Harrison and John Lennon at the UNICEF Gala in Paris.

John Lennon and Yoko leaving a London court hearing after facing charges of possessing marijuana and obstructing police.

"Lennon was the first to break the Beatles' all-for-one sensibility, and also the rule that no wives or girlfriends would attend recording sessions, as he brought Yoko into the studio.He was also the first member to quit the group, which he did in September 1969.

John held the now infamous ‘Bed-In’ for a peace event with wife Yoko Ono in both Amsterdam and Toronto; thus creating his anti-war anthem, Give Peace a Chance.

In 1970, Lennon and Yoko went through Primal therapy. The influence of the therapy, which consists in part of screaming out the depths of one's emotional pain, is apparent in many of the songs on his album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

John had a strong affection for cats, actually having owned as many as six at a time.

When the Nixon Administration found out about Lennon's plans for a rock tour in support of anti-war organizing and voter registration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service made several attempts to deport Lennon.

Following Lennon's depression over the poor-selling Some Time In New York City album and Nixon's re-election as president, he and Ono decided to separate. Lennon moved to California and embarked on a period he would later dub his ‘lost weekend’ which lasted 18 months. At Ono's suggestion he took May Pang along as his assistant and his lover during this period.

John decided that he wanted to be a 'rocker,' after hearing Elvis Presley sing ‘HeartBreak Hotel’, and when Elvis and John met in 1965, Elvis was unsure of John's name, so he addressed him as ‘Beatle.

In one of his last major interviews Lennon said that he'd always been very macho and had never questioned his chauvinistic attitudes towards women until he met Ono.

John was cremated at a private ceremony the day after his death. The whereabouts of his ashes have never been revealed. The memorial to John Lennon in Central Park called; 'Strawberry Fields' still continues to draw people who leave tributes to him.

The landmark Dakota Apartments at the corner of New York's Central Park West and 72 streets on the upper West Side of Manhattan where musician Lennnon was murdered as he arrived home from a recording session on. Lennon’s memorial, ‘Strawberry Fields’ is located across the street.

Today Yoko Ono still proves herself to be a provocative and controversial artist and her Sean Lennon follows in his father’s footsteps as a singer, songwriter, musician and even an actor.

Due to his similarities in looks, singing voice and style, it was occasionally speculated that Julian Lennon would join Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to form a band.