Imagine: Google pays tribute to John Lennon

Google paid tribute to former Beatle John Lennon on Friday by replacing its celebrated logo with a video featuring his classic song "Imagine."

Lennon would have turned 70 on Saturday and events have been organized around the world to mark his birthday. Lennon was shot dead outside his Manhattan apartment in December 1980.

On Google's British site, Google.co.uk, the Internet giant replaced its logo with a 32-second video featuring a series of drawings of nature scenes which conclude by spelling the words "Google."

The second "o" in Google is a drawing of Lennon's face based on one of his famous self-portraits.

The Mountain View, California-based Google frequently changes the colorful logo on its famously sparse home page to mark anniversaries or significant events or pay tribute to artists, scientists, statesmen and others.

Google, for example, recently marked the 30th birthday of Pac-Man by featuring the classic arcade videogame in a playable doodle.