The Beatles. . . . 40 years ago!

Hi Jennifer & Friends: For the past few weeks London has been revisiting the break up of the Beatles that took place 40 years ago this month and what's interesting is how the break up actually happened and who was responsible.

(John Lennon signs an autograph for his killer Mark Lee Chapman.)

I had no idea what had happened or how they broke up but the many articles written recently shows that John Lennon is the person who broke up the group but it was Paul McCartney who was blamed for it. Lennon broke up the group at the peak of their popularity because he saw changes coming in music industry which he believed would affect the band and cause them to decline and become insignificant. Lennon felt that the Beatles had their run and their best work was behind them. He wanted the band to be remembered in a positive way and stated in a meeting with McCartney and many other people that he wanted "a divorce" from the band and walked out of the room. He never returned. Granted, McCartney and Lennon had their problems before this but it was Lennon who ended it.

After the break up, McCartney then produced his own solo album and a release of the album had taken place months later after the 'divorce' comment. However, once the album came out the entire world thought it was McCartney who broke up the band as the album was made without the Beatles. McCartney has spent his entire life trying to live down this dubious accusation.

The Beatles were responsible for many things in music, fashion, pop culture, etc. The list of their achiements is long and impressive but any chance of a reunion ended on December 8 1980 when Mark Lee Chapman shot Lennon three times outside his house in New York.

Clare
London, England