A cheeky bit of 'Scouse humour' nearly landed Tom Jones and John Lennon in a fight, the Welsh hitmaker has revealed.
In an interview on BBC’s Front Row show, Sir Tom recounted an exchange with the late Beatles star when a little joke got him seriously riled up.
Sir Tom, 80, admitted he used to have a 'vicious tempter' which meant he found himself in a heated exchange with the Liverpool star.
The Sexbomb singer said it used to take a lot for him to get angry - but admitted it was like a “red flag to a bull” when he did.
The Voice UK judge said he was “not proud” of his old temper and added he had to “be careful” at the time to make sure he kept it under control.
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Sir Tom recounted one particular incident involving John Lennon in which his manager had to intervene and tell him to calm down.
He claimed John mocked his hit single 'It’s Not Unusual' by changing the lyrics to “It’s not Sir unicorn, it’s an elephant.”
Sir Tom said: “I went, ‘Come up here you Scouse b*****d and I’ll show you’.
“My manager said, ‘Woah it’s a Liverpudlians’ sense of humour’, but straight away, boom, it was like a red flag to a bull."
He claimed John fired off his own insults in response, in a heated exchange which ended with Sir Tom's manager having to calm him down.
He said: "Gordon said to me, ‘You’ve got to stop that, you can’t do things like that’."
Looking back on his younger years in the BBC interview, Sir Tom spoke of his need to control his temper.
He said: “I was told I had to contain it, if somebody started getting a little funny with me, I’d have to watch my step.
“You know, because I had a vicious temper when I was young. I didn’t snap easy though, it took a lot to do it.
“But, once it went, it was like a red light went on and it was terrible.”
