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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Series analysing great artists from the perspective of someone who knew them

Andrew McGibbon presents a series of interviews analysing great artists from the perspective of someone who knew them.

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I Was...: Series 4

I Was...: Series 4: I Was John Lennon's Trauma Surgeon

15/06/2017

I Was John Lennon's Trauma Surgeon

Series 4

BBC Radio 4 - I Was..., Series 4, I Was John Lennon's Trauma Surgeon

Andrew McGibbon talks to trauma surgeon Dr David Halleran, who tried to save John Lennon.

Andrew McGibbon talks to Dr David Halleran, the young trauma surgeon who tried to save John Lennon's life after he was shot outside the Dakota Building in New York in 1980.

Dr David Halleran was the trauma surgeon who held John Lennon's heart in his hands after he was fatally shot outside the Dakota buildings in New York. 

Halleran was a third-year general surgery resident at New York's Roosevelt Hospital when an unidentified man with four gunshot wounds to the chest was brought to the emergency room. But Halleran didn't recognize the victim and began trying to restore his vital signs like any other patient.

During this time one of the nurses said, "That looks like John Lennon." Halleran was not so sure. 

Halleran, a Beatles fan himself, describes the brief time he spent with Lennon as he desperately tried to bring his heart back to life, including massaging it in his hands. This sudden meeting in the most tragic of circumstances became a remarkable event in Halleran's life as well as a defining cultural one for Beatles lovers around the world.


Written and Presented by Andrew McGibbon
Producer: Nick Romero
A Curtains for Radio production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Series of interviews analysing great artists from the perspective of someone who knew them

Andrew McGibbon presents a series of interviews analysing great artists from the perspective of someone who knew them

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I Was John Lennon's Trauma Surgeon

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