Born on this day in 1940 – English musician and activist John Lennon. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960 and gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Beatles. Lennon’s songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. Lennon later cited ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ as his finest work with the band. As a performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Double Fantasy, his second-best-selling non-Beatles album, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In New York, on 8 December 1980, returning from a recording session, Mark Chapman shot Lennon twice in the back and twice in the shoulder at close range. Lennon was rushed to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15 p.m. He was 40 years old.