The Bluffer's Guide to John Lennon

THIS week would have seen John Lennon mark his 85th birthday, so here are some facts about the slain Beatle.

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JOHN Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool Maternity and named after his maternal grandfather and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

A myth has sprung up that Lennon was delivered during a particularly fierce German air raid. However, the night of October 9, 1940 saw a lull in the bombing.

Lennon's father Freddie only saw baby John a few times and then not at all for 20 years. The family discouraged Freddie from seeing his son.

Lennon was raised by his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, in Woolton. Their home in Beaconsfield Road was near a local Salvation Army orphanage in whose garden known as Strawberry Fields the boy played.