Paul McCartney phones the BBC in the wake of John Lennon’s death

The day after John Lennon’s death in New York, BBC2 aired a special tribute at 9pm as part of The Old Grey Whistle Test. The programme was presented by Radio One DJ Annie Nightingale and featured contributions from DJs Andy Peebles — who had interviewed John just two days before his murder — and Paul Gambaccini, and journalist Michael Watts from Melody Maker.

Towards the end of the broadcast, Annie Nightingale shared a message from Paul McCartney, who had just phoned in:

Paul [McCartney] has just phoned me and said to give you a message which is ’on behalf of Yoko and George and Ringo and Linda, to say thank everybody for their support since this tragedy. It’s an incredible drag, and I want to thank you all so very much’.

Annie Nightingale

I sat there in shock. It hadn’t dawned on me yet. The greatest rock star who ever lived was dead – and I was one of the last people on earth to talk to him.

Annie cued the video of Imagine, the one with John at the white piano. The red light on the desk started flashing [with an incoming call]. It was Paul McCartney. “Linda and I are watching,” Paul said. “Tell the gang they’re doing a great job.”

Hearing John’s boyhood friend and fellow Beatle on the line was the moment when it sank in. But still I didn’t cry. I bottled it all up, when I should have wept it all out. I know now that the experience damaged me profoundly for years.

Andy Peebles – From Daily Mail Online, December 5, 2015

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