Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Duke Fakir still performs with a new-look Four Tops

The last surviving original member of The Four Tops has revealed the Motown group almost boarded the plane that was blown up over Lockerbie.

Pan Am Flight 103 was on its way from London to New York in 1988 when a bomb went off on board while it was above the Scottish town.

Duke Fakir said: "The producer on Top of The Pops was the reason we didn't get on that plane."

He explained the group originally planned two performances for the show.

The 80-year-old said the group wanted to record them together but were told they could not do both of them in the same session.

Timeline: Lockerbie bombing

Speaking in London before attending a performance of Motown the Musical, Fakir explained: "We had two shows to do and we were going to record them at the same time.

"One of them was not going out until New Year's Eve and the producer didn't want us to play them at the same time. He wouldn't have it."

Image copyright Craig Sugden Image caption Fakir joined the cast of Motown The Musical on stage on Wednesday evening

Fakir added: "I was glad, so, so glad that we didn't do it in one session."

The explosion over Lockerbie killed all 259 people on board the plane and 11 people on the ground.

Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon has previously said he was booked on the Pan Am flight, but missed it because his wife took too long packing.

Fakir performs with a new-look The Four Tops, who will soon embark on a UK tour with The Temptations.

The Four Tops became one of the best-known bands of the Motown era after forming in the late 1950s.

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