Video: 'John Lennon on Monday Night Football Dec. 1974'

(Monday, December 9, 1974, at about 10:30 p.m. EST) — Ex-Beatle John Lennon made a surprise appearance tonight on the ABC-TV sports program Monday Night Football, where he was briefly interviewed by the host Howard Cosell during the intermission in a game between the Los Angeles Rams and the LA Redskins at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Ironically, Monday Night Football would be the first national television broadcast to break the news of Lennon’s assassination in New York City almost six years to the date on Dec. 8, 1980 with Cosell reporting the details.