Yoko Ono paid tribute to John Lennon during an emotional visit to her former husband's childhood home in Liverpool at the weekend.

Ono also met children at Dovedale School during the trip, which formed part of celebrations for what would have been Lennon's upcoming 70th birthday.

Speaking to reporters at Mendips in Woolton, the home Lennon shared with his aunt Mimi from 1945 to 1963, Ono said she was “lucky” to have the former Beatle.

"He was a very sweet and gentle person at home, he would make an effort and he would say 'love is something you have to water every day',” she told the Press Association.

“I don't know how he knew this but I was lucky to have someone like that with me."

Lennon would have turned 70 on October 9. He was shot dead in New York in December 1980.

(by Jason Gregory)