John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono has
unveiled a plaque commemorating his life and contribution to music.
The former Beatle, who was gunned down in New York City in 1980, would have
turned 70 earlier this month.
The English Heritage blue plaque is at 34 Montagu Square in Marylebone,
London, which was the first home the couple shared.
They lived at the basement and ground floor flat in the latter half of 1968,
during which time Lennon was creatively very active, working on The Beatles'
White Album as well as early collaborations with Ono.
It was there that the nude photograph of the couple was taken for the Two
Virgins album cover.
Lennon lived at a number of addresses in London and the surrounding area
between 1963 and 1971, but 34 Montagu Square is his longest residential
connection with a surviving building in the capital.
The flat forms part of a grade II listed terraced house, built about
1810-11.
The apartment has multiple Beatles associations - it was bought in 1965 by
Ringo Starr, who lived there in October of that year, and later briefly
tenanted by Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix in turn before Lennon and Ono
moved in.
Ono said: 'I am very honoured to unveil this blue plaque and thank English
Heritage for honouring John in this way.
'This particular flat has many memories for me and is a very interesting
part of our history.
'In what would have been John's 70th year, I am grateful to you all for
commemorating John and this particular part of his London life, one which
spawned so much of his great music and great art.'
On December 8 it will be 30 years since Lennon was assassinated outside the
Dakota hotel in Manhattan.