John Lennon would have turned 70 years old tomorrow (Oct. 9).

Google had a neat idea. Today’s Google page features a brief animation based on John Lennon’s own “doodles”. Before the day is over, hundreds of millions of people will have seen it.

If I had to pick one single favorite picture of Lennon, it would be this one:

John Lennon in Hamburg in the early 1960s. Photo: Jürgen Vollmer. Click to enlarge.

The time and place was Hamburg in the very early 1960s.  It was taken by Jürgen Vollmer, who befriended the Beatles on one of their first gigs outside of England. Walking by in the foreground are Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe. (The latter dropped out of the band, remained in Hamburg, but soon died from a brain aneurysm). Lennon later used the picture for the cover art of the album Rock’n Roll (1975), on which he bills himself as “Dr. Winston O’Boogie”.

Reinhard Kargl

Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.