SIR Billy Connolly has told how one of his biggest regrets is being too embarrassed to meet Beatles legend John Lennon.
The comedian passed up the chance to visit Lennon while playing stand-up gigs in New York during the 1970s.
He was given a letter of introduction to present to the Imagine singer by Sir Paul McCartney’s younger brother Mike McGear.
However the Big Yin felt mortified at the thought of using the formal greeting to introduce himself to Lennon and wife Yoko Ono at their Manhattan home.
Sir Billy, 77, said he had formed close friendships with the other members of the Fab Four but felt sad he never got to hang out with Lennon before his death in 1980.
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He said: “I had a letter of introduction from Mike McGear, Paul McCartney’s brother.
“I was going to New York and he said ‘you’ve got to meet John’ and he gave me it.
“I said ‘I can’t go to the door with a letter of introduction’. I said ‘f*** off’. I didn’t go.
“I was doing Carnegie Hall and I was having a rest in the dressing room because I was really tired.
“My producer, Phil Coulter, went out for a walk and he saw John and Yoko.
“I was jealous that I never saw him or met him. I was a huge fan. I am friendly with all the other Beatles.”
Sir Billy also said he had played a gig in Norwich on the night Lennon was shot dead by obsessive fan Mark Chapman in December, 1980.
He said: “I played Norwich the night John Lennon was killed. It was terrible for about 20 minutes. Then I said ‘God, John Lennon…’ and the place erupted in applause and then it was good.
“It wasn’t about being depressed it was about the act and about the world’s depression. All you do is mention it. Share it, leave it and get on with it.”
He also told of his bond with Ringo Starr, Sir Paul McCartney and the late George Harrison.
Speaking on the Adam Buxton podcast, he said: “None of them are my favourite but I treasure my friendships with them.
“George was a lovely man. I spent a lot of time with him, a lot more than the other ones.
“I played the banjo once in George’s studio and there was a guy joined in on the guitar behind me and it was George.”
Sir Billy has previously told how he and Sir Paul play jokes on each other by sending Christmas cards months after the festive period.
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He said their tradition started after he had forgotten to send the Beatles star a card one year.
He asked his daughter to arrange a card but he discovered it had not been posted three months later and his wife Pamela Stephenson sent it.
The comic revealed the pair now try to outdo each other by sending festive greetings as late as possible each year.
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