Saturday 14 June 1969 | Television Recording | InterTel Studios, Stonebridge House, Wembley, London
On the evening of Saturday 14 June 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono pre-recorded an appearance on The David Frost Show at the InterTel studios at Stonebridge House in Wembley, London. The programme was syndicated in the United States, allowing the Lennons to broadcast their peace message to a wider audience than a UK-only broadcast would have reached. The edition was first broadcast from 8.30–10pm on 10 July 1969.
The Recording
The appearance opened with a characteristically playful gesture: helped by Frost, Lennon and Ono threw acorns into the audience, with Lennon proclaiming it "acorns for peace week". He held aloft a copy of Unfinished Music No 2: Life With the Lions and wished the Queen a happy birthday.
Yoko Ono presented Frost with a "box of smile" — upon opening it, the host found a small mirror inside, designed to reflect back his own smile.
The conversation turned to Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins, with Lennon proudly claiming it was selling for £10 on the black market after being widely banned. Frost joked that, where it had gone on sale, the price tag had been placed in a strategic position on the controversial cover — which famously featured a full-frontal photograph of Lennon and Ono.
Extracts of Cambridge 1969 and No Bed for Beatle John were played from a copy of Life With the Lions. Frost asked the couple why they record and release such unfinished works, which led Ono into a discussion on the nature of art and creation.
The Bagism Discussion
Following a commercial break, Frost asked about Bagism — the concept Lennon and Ono had introduced earlier in 1969 as a form of total communication free of visual prejudice. The exchange that followed was one of the most articulate explanations Lennon gave of the idea:
Frost: There's that sweet card you sent the other day that I need an explanation for.
Lennon: Do you really need all these explanations? [To the audience] I thought he was clever!
Frost: No, no, no. The message I had from John and Yoko the other day, when we were planning the programme, was a message with a nice picture that said "Love + Peace = Bagism". I need to know more, John.
Lennon: What's Bagism? It's like a tag for what we all do, we're all in a bag, you know, and we realised that we came from two bags – I was in this pop bag going round and round in my little clique and she was in her little avant-garde clique going round and round and you're in your little tele clique and they're in their…you know? And we all sort of come out and look at each other every now and then, but we don't communicate. We all intellectualise about how there is no barrier between art, music, poetry… but we're still all – 'I'm a rock and roller', 'He's a poet'. So we just came up with the word so you would ask us what bagism is – And we'd say we're all in a bag, baby!
Frost: Well now, you've got in a bag, you've got in a sack…
Lennon: Well, we got out of one bag and into the next, you just keep moving from bag to bag.
Frost: You've got a bag there with you, what do you do with it?
Lennon: Well sometimes we get in it and sometimes other people get in it.
Ono: You know, this life is speeded up so much and the whole world is getting tenser and tenser because things are just going so fast, you know, so it's so nice to slow down the rhythm of the whole world, just to make it peaceful. So like the bag, when you get in, you see that it's very peaceful and your movements are sort of limited. You can walk around on the street in a bag.
Frost: Can you?
Lennon: If people did interviews for jobs in a bag they wouldn't get turned away because they were black or green or long hair, you know, it's total communication.
Frost: They'd get turned away because they were in a bag. [Audience laughter]
Lennon: Well no, if that was specified that when you interviewed the people that you wanted to employ – and you had this prejudice – and the people had to wear a bag, then you'd only judge them on what they communicated to you and you wouldn't have to think 'Oh, he's wearing black suede is he, don't like it'.
Frost: 'He's wearing Windsor bags!'
Lennon: It's like, we did a press conference in Vienna and they're pretty square over there…
Frost: …And they all got in the bags?
Lennon: …No, we were in the bag that time and all the press came in, sort of expecting Beatle John and his famous wife, and we were in the bag singing and humming and all they were asking was "What are you wearing?" And they're all sort of holding mics to this bag and asking it how it felt and was it glad to be here and were you really John Lennon and Yoko.
Frost: Does it have to be a bag big enough so that they can't see you at all? Or only can't see your shoes?
Lennon: Oh well it depends, for convenience you can have slim bags and fatty loose bags, you know.
Selling Peace
The conversation moved to the Lennons' peace campaigning, and Lennon gave one of his most cogent explanations of his approach:
Frost: And tell me, how has this thing gone with the sleep-ins you've been having. Those are what? To draw attention…
Lennon: We're trying to sell peace, like a product, you know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft drinks, you know, the only way to get people aware that peace is possible and – It isn't just inevitable to have violence, not just war, all forms of violence. People just accept it and think 'Oh, they did it', or 'Harold Wilson did it' or 'Nixon did it', they're always scapegoating people. It isn't Nixon's fault, we're all responsible for everything that goes on, you know, we're all responsible for Biafra and Hitler and everything. So we're just saying 'SELL PEACE'. Anybody interested in peace – just stick it in the window, it's simple but it lets somebody else know that you want peace too, because you feel alone if you're the only one thinking 'Wouldn't it be nice if there was peace and nobody was getting killed'. So advertise yourself that you're for peace if you believe in it.
The remainder of the interview covered the story of Lennon and Ono's first meeting, and further discussions on their peace campaigning.
Context: Lennon and Ono's Peace Campaign, 1969
By June 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's peace campaign was at its most intensive. The year had already seen the Bed-Ins for Peace in Amsterdam (March) and Montreal (May – June), the Vienna press conference in a bag, the planting of acorns for peace at Coventry Cathedral, and the recording of 'Give Peace a Chance' in Montreal on 1 June 1969 — just two weeks before this Frost Show appearance. The David Frost Show appearance was one of several television platforms the Lennons used to amplify their message to international audiences.
Bagism had been introduced by Lennon and Ono in March 1969 at the Vienna press conference, where they had conducted the entire event from inside a white bag. The concept — that communication free of visual prejudice would reduce discrimination — was characteristically Ono-influenced in its conceptual art roots, and characteristically Lennon in its blunt, humorous articulation.
The David Frost Show
David Frost (1939–2013) was one of the most celebrated television interviewers of the twentieth century, known for his ability to engage subjects across the full spectrum of public life — from politicians to pop stars. His relationship with The Beatles dated back to the early 1960s; he had interviewed the group on several occasions and was one of the few interviewers who could match Lennon's wit and intelligence in conversation. The David Frost Show was syndicated across the United States, giving the Lennons' peace message a transatlantic platform at a critical moment in the Vietnam War era.
Key Facts: 14 June 1969
- Date recorded: Saturday 14 June 1969
- Location: InterTel Studios, Stonebridge House, Wembley, London
- First broadcast: 10 July 1969, 8.30–10pm
- Topics: Bagism; peace campaigning; Two Virgins; Life With the Lions; Vienna press conference; Bed-Ins
- Props: Acorns ("acorns for peace week"); box of smile (mirror); copy of Life With the Lions
- Syndication: United States
Frequently Asked Questions
When did John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on The David Frost Show?
John Lennon and Yoko Ono pre-recorded an appearance on The David Frost Show on 14 June 1969 at the InterTel studios at Stonebridge House in Wembley, London. The episode was first broadcast on 10 July 1969.
What is Bagism?
Bagism was a concept introduced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. The idea was that if people communicated from inside a bag — invisible to each other — they would be judged only on what they said, eliminating visual prejudice based on race, appearance, or dress. Lennon and Ono first demonstrated it at a Vienna press conference in March 1969, conducting the entire event from inside a white bag.
What did John Lennon say about selling peace on The David Frost Show?
Lennon said: "We're trying to sell peace, like a product, you know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft drinks… So we're just saying 'SELL PEACE'. Anybody interested in peace – just stick it in the window, it's simple but it lets somebody else know that you want peace too."
What was Yoko Ono's "box of smile"?
Yoko Ono gave David Frost a "box of smile" during the 14 June 1969 appearance. When Frost opened it, he found a small mirror inside — designed to reflect back his own smile. It was a characteristic Ono conceptual art gesture.
What records did John Lennon discuss on The David Frost Show in 1969?
Lennon discussed Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins (claiming it was selling for £10 on the black market after being widely banned) and Unfinished Music No 2: Life With the Lions, from which extracts of Cambridge 1969 and No Bed for Beatle John were played.
What peace activities had John Lennon and Yoko Ono undertaken before the Frost Show appearance?
By June 1969, the Lennons had staged Bed-Ins for Peace in Amsterdam (March) and Montreal (May–June), conducted the Vienna press conference in a bag, planted acorns for peace at Coventry Cathedral, and recorded 'Give Peace a Chance' in Montreal on 1 June 1969 — just two weeks before the Frost Show recording.
→ John Lennon | Paul McCartney | George Harrison | Ringo Starr
Shop Beatles Merch: The Beatles: Beatlemania Collection | Shop by Era
0 comments