10 Creepiest Government Secrets

7. Spying On John Lennon

**FILE**Former Beatle John Lennon, giving the peace sign, and his wife, Yoko Ono, arrive for a hearing on their deportation case at U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office in lower Manhattan, on May 12, 1972. The ex-Beatle's celebrated batt
AP

Both MI5 and the FBI are known to have spied on Beatles singer John Lennon off and on over the course of his time as a public figure, actions which included intercepting letters the singer sent to political parties and outlets out of favour with the government (Lennon, for example, supported Red Mole, a Marxist magazine run by a student protest leader).

However, more than that happened - we just don't know exactly what. It's no secret that FBI leader J. Edgar Hoover was no fan of Lennon's, and that Richard Nixon ordered the FBI to spy on him because he had moved to the U.S. and was against the Vietnam war. Most of the FBI's action was an attempt to prevent Lennon from being granted permanent residence in the country, however many documents remain classified, including a lot of rumoured files with MI5 - who clearly don't want to be further embarrassed over their targeting of such an iconic British figure.

Eventually, Lennon won the right to stay in the U.S. - despite the FBI releasing several top secret papers to the INS in an attempt to dissuade them from allowing him to stay.

Contributor
Contributor

Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.