A controversial John Lennon interview dredged up from the archives is set to be broadcast in the UK for the first time.

In the 1970 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Lennon compared life in The Beatles to the debased, corrupt ancient Rome.

He also talked about the darker side of life in the band, saying: "If you couldn't get groupies, we had whores. Whatever was going.

"There were photos of me crawling round on my knees coming out of whorehouses in Amsterdam with people saying: 'Good morning, John.'"

As the BBC reports, he went on to claim that photos and other shocking things never surfaced because the people behind the band didn’t want a “big scandal.”

Frank as ever, he went on to hit out at Paul McCartney saying he became power obsessed once Brian Epstein died, saying: We got fed up of being sidemen to Paul after Brian Epstein died.
"Paul took over and supposedly led us. What's leading us when you wander round in circles?"

He continued: "All our best work, apart from the really early ones like 'I Want to Hold Your Hand', were written apart."

The full interview, complete with plenty more startling revelations is to be aired on Radio 4 at 7pm tomorrow evening.