John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940. There was no time of birth indicated on the image of his birth certificate that I came across. It is popularly believed he was born that evening or night, during a German bombing raid. However, at least one person disputes the claim about the raid. I have also read a page of comments on an astrology Web site which include some by one astrologer who swore that John Lennon told someone close to the astrologer that he was born on the morning of October 9, 1940. So, for my calculations, I will consider that he was born sometime between 12:00:00 AM and 11:59:59 PM on that date. Since British Summer Time was in effect, he was born between 11:00:00 PM GMT on October 8 and 10:59:59 PM GMT on October 9, 1940.

He was killed on December 8, 1980. His death certificate gives the time of death as 11:15 PM EST. This was 4:15 AM GMT on December 9, 1980. Thus, he was alive for forty years (including ten leap days) plus sixty days and approximately five hours and fifteen minutes to sixty-one days and approximately five hours and fifteen minutes.

My birth certificate indicates my time of birth was 11:08 PM EDT. (I won't give my date of birth here, but you can figure it out if you're so inclined.) That was 3:08 AM GMT the following day. So far, I have lived forty years (including ten leap days). So, sometime between 4:23 AM EDT on Tuesday and 4:23 AM EDT on Wednesday this week, I accumulated more time alive than John Lennon did. I don't know why I find this noteworthy, but it is not a happy milestone for me.