The late musician was with his secretary May Pang, when the pair were at his New York apartment on August 23 1974. The Beatle's sighting was recounted in the book Ms Pang later went on to write entitled Loving John. She wrote: "The large, circular object was coming towards us. "It was shaped like a flattened cone and on top was a large, brilliant red light. When it came a little closer, we could make out a row or circle of white lights that ran around the entire rim of the craft." Lennon was separated from his lover Yoko Ono at the time.

GETTY John Lennon, left, saw a UFO over New York 42 years ago today.

He later referred to the sighting on the cover of his solo album Walls And Bridges, released the same year, saying that he saw a UFO. In Ms Pang's book, she continued: "We had just ordered up some pizzas and since it was such a warm evening, we decided to step out on the terrace. "There were no windows directly facing us from across the street, so John just stepped outside with nothing on, in order to catch a cool breeze that was coming in right off the East River. "I remember I was just inside the bedroom getting dressed when John started shouting for me to come out on the terrace." She said she yelled back she would be right there, but Lennon screamed for her to join him that instant. She said: "As I walked out onto the terrace, my eye caught this large, circular object."

YouTube A design for the Walls and Bridges album done by Lennon featuring the UFO.

As I walked out onto the terrace, my eye caught this large, circular object. May Pang

She said it was not pulsating, like one on the many aircraft they had seen landing at Newark Airport. She described the lights around the rim. She said: "They were flashing on and off. There were so many of these lights that it was dazzling to the mind. It was, I estimate, about the size of a Lear jet and it was so close that if we had something to throw at it, we probably would have hit it quite easily." She claimed the object just eerily passed by. She added: "We often had helicopters flying above us but this was as silent as the night and about seventeen storeys above street level." She told how the object flew off but returned later.

De-classified secrets of Area 51 Thu, March 16, 2017 The United States Air Force facility, known as Area 51 is a remote area in Nevada. Current purpose of the base is unknown, however conspiracy theorists and media have speculated purposes from UFO spacecraft research to analysing the brain activity of an alien. Play slideshow UIG via Getty Images 1 of 10 Conspiracy theorists believed remains of UFO spacecrafts were stored at Area 51, and that government scientists were researching the remains to engineer the aliens technology