With his life cut short at barely 40 something, Lennon was spared the ruminations of old age, the fascinating journey towards being an pensioner he might have had, the bizarre leftfield adventures into electronica, into rock, into being a nostalgia act, and the inevitable Beatles reunions rumours. What a tragedy, for all the things he could have done. Here, as with a few other similar publications, the BBC have compiled a short(ish) 60 minute CD autobiography, taking a largely chronological journey through Lennon's life taken from archive interviews : the idea of a journey through a life, taken from archive interviews and commentary is fascinating but not exactly original, and skewed by both a paucity of imagination and often a shortage of material, so, for example, does this cover ALL the interviews Lennon gave for the BBC? Does it tell his story the best way it can? Probably not. It's a short tale as well, for even though there have been many, many hours of material, nowhere near the full capacity of the CD is used. On the other hand, much of this material hasn't been officially heard since first broadcast over three decades ago, and to hear the original tape dusted off and represented is a joy, as is the old friend that is Lennon's acerbic but warm loving loathing for life. For a fanatic, definitely.