London socialite Tara Browne died on December 18, 1966 - an event that would inspire John Lennon to write "A Day In The Life," a song considered by many to be the Beatles' best.
Brown, 21 years old at the time of his death and a friend of members of the Beatles and of the Rolling Stones, was the son of a member of the House of Lords and an heir to the Guinness fortune. He died in a car accident, missing a traffic light while driving his sports car at high speed and crashing into a truck.
The following January, a story appeared in the Daily Mail describing the coroner's verdict in Browne's death. Reading it, Lennon incorporated the story into the song that would eventually become the closing song on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Starting out with the lyric "I read the news today, oh boy . . ." the song went on to describe Browne's death and the public's reaction:
"He blew his mind out in a car,
He didn't notice that the lights had changed,
A crowd of people stood and stared,
They'd seen his face before,
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords."
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