John Lennon returns to Gibraltar 53 years after first visiting the Rock

John Lennon returns to Gibraltar 53 years after first visiting the Rock to marry Yoko Ono.

THE Gibraltar Cultural Services (GCS), on behalf of the Ministry of Culture announced on April 26 the completion of another Street Art Mural, located in Landport Tunnel.

The mural of the legendary musician John Lennon can be found within one of the blocked doorways in the tunnel itself (next to Lord Nelson’s) and is in reference to The Beatles musician travelling to Gibraltar to marry Yoko Ono in 1969.

The mural was undertaken by award-winning painter and mural artist, Michael Corr, based in central Scotland, whose work centres around portraits, with an emphasis on colour and spontaneous mark making.

The tunnel is a key entry point for pedestrians and tourists, and this is seen to be an ideal spot to have a piece of street art depicting a world known artist with a strong connection to the Rock.

For many years following the couple’s marriage on the Rock, the Gibraltar Post Office had repeatedly applied for permission to issue stamps featuring the couple to find their approach rejected due to the fact that Lennon had returned his MBE to the Palace in the same year.

At that time, all postage stamps which carried the Royal Cypher or a cameo of Queen Elizabeth II had to be approved by both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Palace.

It was only in 1999 following a change in policy concerning who or what could appear on British stamps that Gibraltar was finally allowed to issue the set which consisted of three colour photographs of Lennon on single stamps and two black and white souvenir sheets showing the couple during the wedding visit.

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