The Walrus finds a home...
On the heels of yesterday's feature story about "Hey Jude" comes another event in the life of Beatle John Lennon. On this date in 1977, Lennon was granted permanent residence in the U.S. This followed years of deportation warnings given to John by the U.S. State Department...
The fight to keep John Lennon in the U.S. went as high as the White House. President Richard Nixon who would enlist Elvis Presley in his war against drugs, was the deciding factor in Lennon's successful fight to remain in the U.S...
It's well documented that Lennon mis-used drugs, which cannot be condoned but the greater good he contributed to society, far out-weighed his self-abuse. He simply did not deserve to be deported. He would remain in the land he loved, America, until that fateful day in 1980...
More July 27 Memories...
1940) Bugs Bunny makes his debut in the WB animated cartoon, "A Wild Hare."
1959) Attorney William Shea announces the formation of the Continental League and the promise of bringing a baseball team to New York by 1961...
1965) Health warnings on cigarette packages agreed upon by the U.S...
1974) Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" is released...
1976) Tina Turner files for divorce from Ike...
1977) John Lennon granted permanent residency (feature story)...
1980) The deposed Shah of Iran dies in Egypt at 60...
1983) Madonna's self-titled LP is released...
1986) Greg Lemond is 1st American to win Tour de France...
1988) Yankee pitcher Tommy John commits 3 errors on 1 play...
1992) 27-year old Boston Celtic star, Reggie Lewis, dies after practice...
1996) A bomb kills 1, injures 110 at Atlanta Olympic Park during the Olympic games...
2003) Lance Armstrong wins his record-tying fifth straight Tour de France title...
2003) Comedian Bob Hope tells his last joke, at age 100...
Happy Birthday to...
1922) TV producer, Norman Lear...
1929) Harvey (Moonglows) Fuqua...
1931) Jerry Van Dyke...
1933) The Kingston Trio's Nick Reynolds...
1937) Chuck ("Any Day Now") Jackson...
1939) Sportscaster Irv Cross...
1944) Bobbie Gentry...
1948) Figure skater, Peggy Fleming...
1949) Maureen McGovern...
1972) SNL's Maya Rudolph...
1975) A-Rod...
Commentary...
While I had spoken to Ringo Starr on the phone, calling from Australia at the time, I had never met a Beatle in the flesh, until meeting John Lennon. John was seated next to WABC's Rick Sklar on the dais at a radio luncheon I attended. Rick introduced me to John, a rather quiet, pleasant bloke. I would run into John one more time and once again Uncle Rick accompanied the former Beatle and this time Rick actually said, "you know John, don't you ?" To which I replied, "sure". Wow, this was heady company I was in now. John Lennon and I were on a first-name basis. Did John remember me ? Probably not, but at least he said he did. It didn't matter. I was impressed anyway...
I remember the concerted effort there was among those of us in the radio community to keep John in this country. Most of that was led by Beatle promo man, Pete Bennett who had entree to President Nixon. Pete probably had more to do with keeping John Lennon in this country then anyone else...
