8 December 2010
At WarmingGlow:
It was 30 years ago tonight that Howard Cosell announced the death of John Lennon during the final moments of regulation during a Monday Night Football game between the Dolphins and Patriots (Cosell’s 1974 interview with Lennon is here, the MNF clip with the announcement is here).
Over the last couple of days, ESPN has been running an “Outside the Lines” about the Patriots’ British kicker John Smith and how ABC was able to break the news: an ABC News staffer was hospitalized after a car accident, and Lennon’s body was wheeled past him. More from ESPN:
As fans watching the game on TV listened to Cosell deliver the stunning news, all they saw was Smith preparing for a field goal attempt. Meanwhile, players and fans inside the stadium were not aware of what Cosell had just announced on national television. There was no public-address announcement or murmur through the crowd, like there would have been today with people scanning social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook…
From RollingStone.com:
Thirty years ago today — on December 8, 1980 — John Lennon was murdered outside of his New York apartment building by a deranged fan. Three days before John Lennon was killed, Jonathan Cott spent hours interviewing him for a planned cover story. The complete Q&A, which is running in the new issue of Rolling Stone — available on stands, as well as in the online archives — has never been published before now…
John Lennon with Yoko Ono on the day he received his green card, New York City, July 28, 1976. Photo Bob Gruen. More photos at RollingStone.com
On the morning of 9 December 1980, the British people woke to news of the killing which had taken place at 10:50 PM Eastern Time on the 8th (3:50 AM GMT, 12/9). Here is one initial news report from the BBC:
