More popular than Jesus Cleave's article mentioned that Lennon was "reading extensively about religion", and quoted a comment he made: Cleave's interview with Lennon was published in the "Evening Standard" in March 1966 and provoked no public reaction in the UK. Church attendance there was in decline and the Christian churches were making no secret of the need to transform their image into something more relevant to modern times. Music historian Jonathan Gould wrote, "The satire comedians had had a field day with the increasingly desperate attempts of the Church to make itself seem more relevant ('Don't call me vicar, call me "Dick" ...')."
The Evening News (London newspaper) The Evening News (London newspaper) The Evening News, earlier styled as The Evening News, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London. After financial struggles and falling sales it was eventually merged with its long-time rival the "Evening Standard" in 1980. The newspaper was revived for an eight-month period in 1987. The paper was founded by Coleridge Kennard and Harry Marks. The first issue appeared on