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Three days before he was murdered, John Lennon said he did not want to be a "dead hero". The remark was made in an interview with journalist Jonathan Cott, who recently found 'lost' tapes as he cleared a cupboard and made them public on the legend's 30th death anniversary. When Cott played them he heard the Beatles legend complaining bitterly about pop critics. Lennon said, "They only like people when they're on their way up. I cannot be on the way up again. What they want is dead heroes like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not interesting in being a dead f***ing hero. So forget 'em, forget 'em." Poignantly, he also said he had 'plenty of time' to accomplish other goals in his life. Cott, of Rolling Stone magazine, recorded the interview on December 5 1980. On December 8 Lennon, 40, was shot dead by crazed fan Mark Chapman outside his New York apartment. Only snippets of the interview were published in the aftermath of the murder - and Cott locked the tapes away. In the interview, called 'uplifting' by Cott, Lennon also talked about his continued commitment to love and peace, and spoke of his bond with wife Yoko Ono. "I've selected to work with only two people, Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono. That ain't bad picking," he said. The anniversary was marked in Liverpool by a prayer vigil at the Beatles statue in Cavern Walks, reports the Sun.

John Lennon 'didn't want to be a dead hero'