Worldwide tributes for John Lennon

Parkes, left, and Baird unveil an English Heritage blue plaque, the first to commemorate Lennon, at his childhood home in Liverpool, England

LIVERPOOL, England -- John Lennon's family gathered at his childhood home to pay tribute to the singer as Beatles fans around the world marked the 20th anniversary of his death.

Lennon's cousin Stanley Parkes unveiled a blue plaque at the small semi-detached house in Woolton, Liverpool, to commemorate the anniversary.

Lennon was shot 20 years ago at the age of 40 by obsessed loner Mark Chapman, a decade after the demise of the Beatles.

Despite the band's split and the songwriter's death, the band is still one of the world's biggest selling acts with its greatest hits album, "1," set to break the million sales barrier just a month after its release.

Fellow bandmate Sir Paul McCartney said he was sure the murdered star would be "tickled" to know the group still had a number one album.

Sir Paul said he would said he would remember his old friend "with all the love in my heart" and would be in the recording studio on Friday: "I'll be doing what we always enjoyed best together -- making music."

The English Heritage plaque overlooks the porch where the young Lennon taught himself to play guitar before achieving worldwide fame as a 23-year-old.

Choking back tears as he unveiled it, Parkes said: "It is a very emotional day today for all of us especially coming back to Woolton and Allerton where we all grew up."

Parkes was joined by Lennon's half-sister, Julia Baird, and dozens of relatives who still live in Liverpool.

Lennon's widow Yoko Ono has called for the world to reflect on the horrors of "gun violence" on the anniversary of the death.

Ono, 67, has been a fervent advocate of gun control since Lennon was shot outside the couple's New York flat and said the anniversary was a time to remember how Lennon had died.

She said almost every country in the world had planned some form of memorial to his life and work.

In the musician's hometown, as well as the plaque at the modest family home where Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi after his parents separated, a statue of a knotted gun has also been erected to mark the date.

Designed 20 years ago in memory of Lennon's murder it was unveiled by Dr Michael Nobel, head of the Nobel family society and chairman of the Non-Violence Foundation and stands near the site of the famous Cavern Club where the Beatles played in their early days together.

Visitors to the John Lennon Museum in Omiya, north of Tokyo, listen to band playing at an event marking the 20th anniversary of Lennon's death

In New York, near where he was shot, up to 1,000 fans are expected to gather in Central Park for a memorial vigil, although the city's mayor has angered fans by refusing to lift a 1am curfew.

A German newspaper paid a particularly unusual tribute, basing all its Friday headlines on the lyrics of his songs.

Left-wing daily Tageszeitung's front-page headline ran: "It was 20 years ago today," a line from the band's 1967 Sergeant Pepper album.

A feature on attempts by European Union leaders to revamp decision-making structures at a summit in the French city of Nice earned the wry headline "You Better Get Yourself Together."

Germany, where The Beatles rose to fame in the early 1960s during a stint at a Hamburg nightclub, retains a strong affection for the British band.

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The Beatles

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