John Lennon's Legacy Takes Flight

Yoko Ono, 58, smiled for cameras in Liverpool, England, on Monday as she participated in a ceremonial renaming of the Liverpool Airport to the John Lennon Airport, in memory of Ono's late husband. Ex-Beatle Lennon, who was killed in New York in 1980, is still one of the Liverpool's favorite sons, and the naming event is quite a distinction. For the first time ever, an airport in England is being named for an individual, said Liverpool Airport chairman Robert Hough. "Throughout the world," the chairman said in a statement. "John Lennon is synonymous with Liverpool. He is an integral part of Merseyside's heritage, and the new name places the airport firmly on the international map." The official name will actually be Liverpool John Lennon Airport. It will also get a slogan: "Above us only sky," a phrase from Lennon's thematic song "Imagine." An airport spokesman told Reuters that the new name was seen as a means to boost tourism.