 John Lennon in Durness with Yoko Ono, Julian and Kyoko |
A festival celebrating the life of John Lennon has opened in a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands. The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival will run for three days in the village of Durness.
The Beatles legend regularly visited the area on childhood summer holidays before returning as an adult in 1969.
Festival organisers promised it would offer an eclectic mix of contemporary music and poetry as well as a talk by Lennon's half sister Julia Baird.
Other highlights will include performances by singer King Creosote and poet Carol Ann Duffy.
More unusual offerings will be a dance floor in Britain's biggest sea cave, and a mobile cinema screening Beatles films.
Unspoilt beaches
There are 1,100 tickets available for the festival, with organisers predicting it will be "one of the most extraordinary festivals ever to be staged in the country".
As well as spending time in the area as a youngster, Lennon returned with his son Julian, wife Yoko Ono, and her daughter Kyoko in 1969.
The area provided part of the inspiration for the Beatles' song In my Life
Durness is the largest village in the north-western corner of Scotland, with a population of 400.
It is in the most sparsely populated region of Western Europe, and attracts tourists with its unspoilt beaches and abundance of wildlife.
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