BBC Radio 4 – Great lives: John Lennon

A new series, “Great lives” debuts with a closer look at John Lennon.

This may be old news from 2010, but it’s available now from BBC Radio 4. Journalist John Harris, author of influential books on music, politics and popular culture, was born just as the Beatles were splitting up, and was only 11 when John Lennon died. Yet Lennon’s mischievous anti-establishment position – and the richness of his lyrics and music – makes him Harris’s nomination for a Great Life. Matthew Parris tries to define what it is that makes this enigmatic, often difficult figure an inspiring subject for reflection. The expert witness is Barry Miles, in whose London gallery John first met Yoko in the mid 1960s.

This is from the series of Great Lives from BBC Radio 4 – available here.