Sir Paul McCartney has recalled his shock when he was told of John Lennon’s murder.
The former Beatle described the phone call confirming Lennon’s death as “horrific” and added that he struggled to tell his own family the news.
McCartney told ITV’s Jonathan Ross Show: “I just for days couldn’t think that he was gone. It was just a huge shock.
“I was at home and I got a phone call. It was early in the morning. It was just so horrific, I couldn’t take it in.
“For me it was just so sad that I wasn’t going to see him again and we weren’t going to hang.”
Lennon was shot outside his home in New York on 8 December 1980 by crazed fan Mark Chapman. McCartney added that he was relieved the pair had made up following the split of The Beatles in 1970.
He said: “I’m so glad because it would have been the worst thing in the world to have this great relationship that then soured and he gets killed, so there was some solace in the fact that we got back together. We were good friends.”
