The death of John Lennon was like 'losing a best friend', Luke O'Neill says.
The immunologist, musician and self-confessed Beatles 'mega' fan says he vividly remembers the news breaking back in December 1980.
Today marks 40 years since the death of The Beatles guitarist and vocalist.
He was shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment building by Mark David Chapman, who is now serving a '20 years to life' sentence for the killing.
On today's The Hard Shoulder, Kieran spoke to Stuart Clark - Hot Press deputy editor - and Professor O'Neill about that day in 1980.
Professor O'Neill said: "I [remember] it vividly... I got up, went downstairs, and put the radio on. It was the third item on the RTÉ Radio news.
"I went to school, and all my friends were commiserating with me because they knew I was a massive fan. When I got back that evening, it was number one on the news.
"I vividly remember it... it was a massive shock to us all. He'd just released a new album, which I'd bought and listened to back-to-back."
He said there was a memorial concert planned in Liverpool, but his mother didn't let him go.
He recalled: "I was 16 years of age... I would have gone over to Liverpool to be with all the other fans.
"My bedroom wall was covered in posters of The Beatles, and I loved Lennon in particular. Losing him was like losing a close friend, really.
"I learned all the songs on guitar - I was the bore at the party who'd get the guitar out and play various Lennon numbers... he was a massive music influentially on a whole generation."
Professor O'Neill recommends the classic Beatles album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for those looking to discover Lennon's musical legacy.
He said: "His best song in my opinion is A Day In The Life, so I'd start with that. Then of course... I Want To Hold Your Hand is a fantastic uplifting song. A Hard Day's Night... the early years Lennon kind of dominated the Beatles.
"You can hear the pure joy in his voice when you hear those early hits as well."
'He's still there somewhere'
Stuart, meanwhile, said he also woke up to the news that Lennon had been shot back in December 1980.
He said: "I just couldn't believe it. I was punk rock, but I realised how great John Lennon was, and just how great a figure he'd been in the evolution of music.
"You don't really think of him as being dead - he's still there somewhere.
"I was just walking past the loading bay of Arnotts, and there's some flowers on the pavement - because that's the site where The Beatles played their two Adelphi theatre shows back in 1963."
He said the legacy of Lennon very much lives on, with even thriller writer John Grisham having just released a book The Last Days of John Lennon - a work of 'faction' imagining what might have happened.
He also noted that Alanis Morrissette has just released a cover of Merry Xmas (War Is Over), recreating Lennon and Yoko Ono's anti-war 'bed-ins for peace' for the music video.
