Having failed to get married in Paris a few days earlier, John Lennon and Yoko Ono chartered an aeroplane to Gibraltar, on the advice of Apple employee Peter Brown.
We chose Gibraltar because it is quiet, British and friendly. We tried everywhere else first. I set out to get married on the car ferry and we would have arrived in France married, but they wouldn’t do it. We were no more successful with cruise ships. We tried embassies, but three weeks’ residence in Germany or two weeks’ in France were required.
They went directly to the British Consulate Office, where they were married during a 10-minute ceremony performed by registrar Cecil Wheeler. As Gibraltar was a British colony, and Lennon was a British citizen, and they were able to go ahead at short notice.
So we were in Paris and we were calling Peter Brown, and said, ‘We want to get married. Where can we go?’ And he called back and said, ‘Gibraltar’s the only place.’ So – ‘OK, let’s go!’ And we went there and it was beautiful. It’s the Pillar of Hercules, and also symbolically they called it the End of the World at one period. There’s some name besides Pillar of Hercules – but they thought the world outside was a mystery from there, so it was like the Gateway to the World. So we liked it in the symbolic sense, and the Rock foundation of our relationship.
Anthology
As with their earlier trip to France, the events were documented in Lennon’s ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’, recorded with Paul McCartney at EMI Studios on 14 April 1969.
Finally made the plane into Paris
Honeymooning down by the Seine
Peter Brown called to say
You can make it OK
You can get married in Gibraltar near Spain
In 1999, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the wedding, Gibraltar issued postage stamps of the couple standing on the airport runway in front of the famous rock, holding their marriage certificate.
It was very romantic. It’s all in the song, The Ballad Of John And Yoko. If you want to know how it happened, it’s in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn’t find a white suit – I had off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on.
Lennon Remembers, Jann S Wenner
Within the hour Lennon and Ono had reboarded their aeroplane and were en route back to the Parisian hotel, the Plaza Athénée, where they had stayed on 16 March.
Also on this day...
- 2019: Paul McCartney live: Estadio Nacional, Santiago
- 2018: A hard day’s knight! Ringo Starr receives his knighthood at Buckingham Palace
- 2018: Museum of Liverpool to host Lennon and Ono exhibition Double Fantasy
- 2012: Yellow Submarine to be reissued on DVD and Blu-ray
- 1999: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Silver Legacy, Reno
- 1993: Paul McCartney live: Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney
- 1976: Wings live: Falkoner Theatre, Copenhagen
- 1967: Recording, mixing: She’s Leaving Home
- 1966: Paul McCartney and Jane Asher return to England from Switzerland
- 1965: Filming: Help!, Austria
- 1964: The Beatles’ second appearance on Ready, Steady, Go!
- 1964: UK single release: Can’t Buy Me Love
- 1964: Filming: A Hard Day’s Night
- 1963: The Beatles live: ABC Cinema, Romford
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Hambleton Hall, Liverpool
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
CAn you please settle an argument? . . . was there a “Bes Man” at John Lennon’s wedding to Yoko Ono? or was the celebrant the only witness?
Cheers . . .
I don’t know for sure, but I’ve never heard of a best man being mentioned.
If there was a best man at the wedding, it would have to be Peter Brown.
The Wedding took place where i was baptised in Gibrater as i was born there in 1982 and that place in Gibralter was a church called
ST THERESA’s
I think, but don’t quote me on this, but I believe a man named Peter Brown was John’s best man…well, at least a witness
Happy Anniversary,John and Yoko……Thank you for the great music and for changing our lives for the better. GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!!!!
And the 2nd witness was “D. Nutter”?? Sounds too much like ‘a nutter’ to my mind – oh my – wonder who it was. This is according to the certificate included with the “Wedding Album”.
That’s right!it was:david nutter,who was the witness at john and Yoko”s wedding,way back in 1969.it”s in the pictures in the little book with:”the wedding album”,along with it.i bought this c.d.when I was married in 1998,and,i believe,it was that winter(January),that I bought the album.a few years later,my(late)husband didn”t want me to have the album,so,i got rid of it.from:betsye j.lee
YES Peter Brown was their best man, He’s mentioned in the Ballad of John and Yoko.
In the photos standing before the Rock, John and Yoko cast long shadows I assume in this case, they did get up early. A ‘ly in’ would have been too inconsiderate for the registrar?
It was, definitely, one of the most important weddings of the century. The pictures are iconic. Thank you for sharing it!
As we all know John Lennon married Yoko Ono on March 20,which happens to be my birthday as well. Besides the obvious reasons why they married on the 20 of March. I want to know what their emotional attachment to that month and day?
“Wir sind nach Southampton gefahren, und dann konnten wir nicht weiterfahren, weil Yoko keine Engländerin war und sie kein Tagesvisum für die Überfahrt bekommen konnte.”
Ist das der Grund, warum sie auch nicht auf dem Stempel ist?
(“We went to Southampton and then we couldn’t go on because Yoko wasn’t English and she couldn’t get a day visa to cross.”
Is that why she’s not on the stamp either?)