June 17th : Sean & Liz Jagger happy couple at premiere

Their romance has ignited talk of the union of two rock dynasties. Sean Lennon, son of murdered Beatle John, and Elizabeth Jagger, daughter of Rolling Stone Mick, who have been quietly dating for three months, have made their first public appearance together at a New York film premiere. "They looked blissfully happy and didn't need encouragement to pose for the photographers," said an onlooker. The happy couple, who have been dating for the past few weeks, posed for photos with Yoko before joining a host of famous faces - including Leonardo DiCaprio and Lauren Bacall - to watch the screening of Michael Moore's hotly-tipped documentary. Rumours that the couple had split in the press recently are abviously far from the turth as the two seemed extremely happy together. For more great music stories on any artist visit Contact Music. Thanks also to the Herald Sun.

June 11th : New play imagine's Lennons's Dakota life

Arrogant, sensitive, sarcastic and vulnerable, John Lennon was a man of contradictions. Few people got close enough to find out what was going on inside his mind and what it was that made him so complex. But a new play tries to figure it out by imagining the events of Lennon's reclusive life in his New York apartment. Dead Beat in Dakota, performed by Sefton Theatre Company at the Little Theatre next week, follows the star as he tries to rebuild his career in the 1970s. Writer Norman Revill said: "There was a time in New York when he said he was officially retired and was bringing up the baby. "But he was desperately trying to write. He went through a fallow period of about four years and suddenly burst out on the scene again. "And then some moron shot him." The play is set in a darkened room in one of Lennon's seven apartments at the Dakota building overlooking Central Park. Norman, 55, originally from Garston, Liverpool, attended Quarry Bank High School, where Lennon had been a pupil some years earlier. He only met the man once, riding on a bus in Liverpool, in 1963, just before the Beatles achieved worldwide fame. "He was on the top deck wearing this amazing green corduroy coat. I thought, 'who owns one of those in Liverpool?' Then, when he got up, I realised who it was. I said 'alright there, John.' "Many, many years later, you think of all the questions you should have asked." The play is on from June 16 to 19. For tickets, call 01704 530521. For more Liverpool information and news visit IC Liverpool.

May 27th : Last Lennon drawing to be auctioned

Assassinated Beatles icon John Lennon's last known autographed drawing is going on sale at an auction in London. The piece of paper, signed "For Ribeah love John Lennon" with doodle portraits, was signed on 8 December 1980 at 10.25pm, just moments before he was shot dead by Mark David Chapman outside his apartment in the Dakota building in New York. The artifact was obtained by Ribeah Vincent who was working as a switchboard operator at Record Plant Records - Lennon's last port of call before his death. According to paperwork that accompanies the drawing, Lennon gave Vincent the autograph in response to her request for one as he was leaving the studio. He was killed on his return home. The sale - also featuring items from artists including Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Sir Elton John, The Beatles, AC/DC, Buddy Holly and Oasis - are up for grabs at Cooper Owen's auction house on 16 June. For more great music stories on any artist visit Contact Music.

April 28th : School reunion for the Quarrymen

John Lennon's junior school will play host to a special reunion of his childhood friends next month. Members of his first band, The Quarrymen, who were on stage with him the day he met Paul McCartney, will be marking musical history at the charity event, held in aid of Dovedale School, Wavertree. Activities will include a family fun day with a bouncy castle and demonstrations of the art and history of skiffle, the musical genre which sparked the former Beatle's love of the guitar. The Quarrymen reformed in 1997, 40 years after their legendary performance at Woolton Church Fete when McCartney became interested in joining the band. Tribute groups The Prellies and The Blue Meanies will also be performing, giving a musical history of the Beatles from the 1950s, through the Hamburg days, to Beatlemania. The events, on May 8, begin at 2pm at Dovedale Junior School. Entrance is free, with the afternoon concert and skiffle talk priced £2.50.

April 9th : Clapton claims Lennon And Lulu romance

Eric Clapton is convinced Beatles legend John Lennon and pop superstar Lulu had an affair in 1967. The Layla singer, 58, claims he remembers seeing Lennon and the Shout singer leave a London party, held to launch The Beatles' seminal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, hand in hand together. The singer-songwriter was still married to first wife Cynthia Powell at the time. Clapton tells UnCut magazine, "John was with Lulu and I remember thinking, 'What an odd couple'. "At dawn it (the party) came to an end. We went outside and the road was lined with policemen. I remember this hand-painted Rolls Royce drawing up and John and Lulu got in. "John was saying, 'God, look at all the police.' "I think everybody went back to John's house and carried on." Lennon divorced Powell the following year (68) to marry Yoko Ono, while Lulu went on to enjoy a fling with David Bowie and married hairdresser John Frieda in 1976 - they are now divorced. For more great music stories on any artist visit Contact Music.

March 31st : New custodianan expert on Lennon

A former school teacher from Woolton has been appointed custodian of John Lennon's childhood home. Colin Hall beat off strong competition from a number of short-listed John Lennon experts to be named as custodian of Mendips for the 2004 visitor season. Mr Hall has moved into the house, in Menlove Avenue, which he will maintain on behalf of the National Trust and welcome visitors five days a week. He said: "I decided to apply for the role as it ties in with my background as a teacher and my love of the Beatles. "I grew up in Woolton and know the area well. In fact I was at the same garden fete in Woolton quarry where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met. "My role will be to meet tourists and bring them into the house John occupied from the age of five to 23 with his auntie Mimi and Uncle George and share my knowledge of his early life there. Visitors then get to explore the house and ask questions. "I am fascinated by John's early life in Woolton and how his upbringing with Auntie Mimi affected his fate," he said. For more Liverpool information and news visit IC Liverpool.

March 15th : Fan pays £2,442 for lock of Lennon's hair

A Beatles fan from Hong Kong has reportedly paid £2,442 for a single lock of John Lennon's hair. The unnamed buyer bought the hair through an intermediary at the 12th Record Collectors Auction in the north-eastern Spanish town of Gerona. It had only been expected to sell for about £670. Organisers of the auction said a Spanish hairdresser had competed with the Hong Kong resident but had not been willing to pay more than £2,000. The Hong Kong buyer however said he would have gone up to £6,700. A British company certified the hair as belonging to the late John Lennon. The former Beatle, who was murdered in New York on December 8, 1980, had apparently pulled the hair out of his head and given it to an enthused fan during a visit to Denver in August 1964. For more up to date news stories visit Ananova.

February 18th : Lennon Lost Guitar For Sale

A Guitar believed to have been engraved by John Lennon was put up for sale yesterday for £1.3m. The "lost" guitar is adorned with a heart pierced by an arrow and a self portrait. The six-string acoustic guitar, discovered in a house clearance in New York, is decorated with a letter B, for Beatles, a drawing of an apple and the numbers nine and two threes, representing the birthdays of John, Yoko and son Sean. It was acquired by memorabilia website momentsintime. com which recently offered for sale the album cover signed by Lennon for Mark Chapman, hours before Chapman shot him dead in New York. Website curator Gary Zimet said: "Beyond it being an instrument on which he played, it's also an extraordinary work of art." For more Liverpool information and news visit IC Liverpool.

February 9th : Sean Lennon finishes first major album

On Saturday night, forty years after the Beatles took America, John Lennon's younger son completed his first major-label album. Sean Lennon told me proudly on Saturday night, after Clive Davis's extraordinary party at the Beverly Hills Hotel, "I finished my album tonight." Earlier in the day, I spotted Lennon's mother, Yoko Ono, having lunch in the Polo Lounge at the BHH. Mother and son were on hand for the Grammy 40th-anniversary celebration of the Beatles, the group that included the late John Lennon and George Harrison, and the living Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Ironically, Sunday night's main Grammy nominees could not have been more different from the Beatles. Few of them play instruments, sing or write their own songs. Sean Lennon, however, is the exception. At 28, he's already released one album, "Into the Sun," on an independent label. Now his new project will come out on Capitol, the record company the Beatles together and separately have called home since 1964. Lennon told me that contrary to gossip reports, Harrison's son Dhani does not play on his new album. "I think the last time we played together I was nine," he laughed. This story is from the Fox News Site.

January 26th : Trusts Require New Custodian For Mendips

Matthew Whitfield from Huyton became the first custodian at Mendips a year ago. Now Matthew has moved on to the new Cube Gallery, in Wood Street, Liverpool, and the National Trust is hunting for his successor for this year's new season. The semi-detached property in Menlove Avenue was gifted to the National Trust by the Beatle's widow Yoko Ono and has attracted more than 7,000 visitors. Candidates must have in-depth knowledge of the Lennon family during the time they owned the house, known as Mendips. Simon Osborne, the trust's Liverpool properties manager, said: "Emphasis is very much on an ability to help with the living interpretation of the house." The new custodian will be expected to live in the property from mid-March to October 2004. Lennon lived in the semi-detached house with his Aunt Mimi from the age of five. The National Trust runs joint tours of Mendips and Sir Paul McCartney's former family home in Forthlin Road. Both properties re-open to the public on 27 March. This story came from the excellent BBC website and IC Liverpool.

January 19th : The John Lennon Experience plays Paris

With Beatlemania on a seemingly never-ending trajectory, Gary Gibson has been booked to star at the famous Olympia Theatre in Paris next month to mark 40 years since the Fab Four appeared in the French capital at that venue. Gary will be joined on stage by the legendary My Bonnie singer, Tony Sheridan. The British singer's uncanny resemblance to the late John Lennon has created a furore wherever he has turned up, even amongst the ranks of those who knew and loved Lennon well. A few years after the former Beatle was murdered, Gary was performing with his band The Cavern in New York and took a stroll close to New York's Dakota Building to take a peek at the famous home of Lennon. Suddenly he saw Yoko Ono wander out on her own. He casually walked across to wish her the best. A startled Yoko Ono stared in shock at the "apparition" before her. Then, waving her hands in the air and moan-ing "No, No, No" she ran away in panic. "I suppose it must have been a surprise as I had my hair in that brushed back Teddy-boy style that John had gone back to wearing. I have seen Gary and his band play and was shocked at the resemblance but also at how well they performed. If you were too young to see John like myself you've gotta see this band as its the closet you'll ever get. For more Liverpool information and news visit IC Liverpool or visit The John Lennon Experience website at www.lennongibson.co.uk.