John was on a microbiotic diet at the time, which Peebles believes explained his gaunt appearance. But his mood was good. How was he getting on with Yoko?
"I saw two people who seemed absolutely madly in love, genuinely," he says. "Some people have suggested since that it might have been a bit of an act. If it was, they were two very fine actors. They seemed very happy. Yoko definitely thought she was in charge and wanted that impression to be given to us. I remember after our first meeting, speaking to Paul Williams (the producer) and saying, 'she's hard work'.
"But when we got in the studio and John opened his mouth to answer my first question, Yoko's face changed. She had made it clear on the Friday that this interview was to be half and half. I walked away from the meeting thinking "no way" because "mother", as John affectionately referred to her, was not the reason we were there. We could give her two per cent of the time, but that would be about it. But within the first five minutes her attitude changed and she became so entranced by John telling all these stories. Everybody had a really good feeling that he was enjoying the interview.
"Some of the things he came out with, I thought were quite extraordinary," says Peebles,, who now broadcasts with Smooth FM and lives near Blackburn. "He asked me if anyone in England would be prepared to promote his concerts. But you have to remember that it was a long time since he had been home. The old promoters might have left the business."
Peebles interviewed Bowie on the Saturday and did his usual Sunday Radio 1 programme from the BBC's New York studio. They took the 7pm flight back to the UK from the JFK airport.
At about 6am they arrived in London and Paul Williams phoned his wife. "Paul suddenly dropped the hand-set and tears started rolling down his face" recalls Peebles. "I went to him and said, 'God Paul, what's the matter'. He said, 'John's dead'. I said, 'John who?' and he said,, 'John Lennon, he's dead'.
"The next 24 hours was a blur. I remember appearing on The Old Grey Whistle Test (a TV programme of tribute to Lennon). I didn't make any real contribution because I was completely out of my tree with jet-lag and exhaustion.
"The tabloids offered me a fortune in grubby money to say what had happened over dinner with John. In 1980, I thought that was personal and I still do to a degree."
But he did broadcast a Lennon tribute on Radio 1 with the late John Peel in the studio with him.
"I am not going to claim that to spend six and a half hours with somebody makes you anything other than a friend with a very small 'f', but the man could not have been more charming, more delightful, more genuine," says Peebles.
There remains the irony in Lennon's reply to his question about the need for security in New York. "John told me he could walk out of the room and down the street and nobody would hassle him," recalls the DJ.
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