Video: 'JOHN LENNON From Wknr-Am, Detroit Interview, October 1969... [Radio-Show]'

(Wednesday, October 22, 1969) — John Lennon of The Beatles and his wife, Yoko Ono, were interviewed today at The Beatles’ Apple headquarters in London (via telephone) by John Small for WKNR-AM in Detroit, denouncing the “Paul is dead” conspiracy theory as “the most stupid rumor I’ve ever heard.”

The rumor, which had escalated into national proportions in America and had by now spread to Great Britain, alleged that fellow Beatle Paul McCartney had died in November 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike.

McCartney was indeed alive and well, setting off this morning to Glasgow en route to a vacation at his Scottish farm just as the story was breaking in London.

At some point today, Paul issued a one-line statement borrowed from Mark Twain: “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”