Elton John believes John Lennon might've won Nobel Peace Prize if he had lived

Elton John reckons John Lennon could have won the Nobel Peace Prize if he had lived.

The pair became close friends in the 1970s and featured on each other's records, with Lennon's last stage appearance before his 1980 death taking place at John's 1974 show in New York.

Speaking to Lennon's younger son Sean Ono Lennon for a special radio programme on the late Beatles star, John said: “I think if your dad had still been alive he would have definitely been, maybe won the Nobel Peace Prize or something.

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“That was what your dad was, he wanted to bring people together. He was a uniter and he was prepared to go to any lengths to make people see what his point was.

“And, you know, a lot of people didn’t like it. And a lot of people like the FBI, they gave him a hard time, but it didn’t deter him whatsoever."

Lennon championed the anti-war movement while the Vietnam War raged, holding 'Bed-Ins for Peace' with wife Yoko Ono in protest against conflict.

His and Ono's 1969 song Give Peace a Chance was a prominent anthem of the movement.

John's conversation with Lennon and Ono's son, to whom he his godfather, comes as part of a Radio 2 special to mark what would've been Lennon's 80th birthday on 9 October.

The two-part programme also features presenter Ono Lennon in conversation with his elder brother Julian Lennon, whose mother was the Imagine singer's first wife Cynthia.

Read more: Paul McCartney looks back 'like a fan' on first time he met John Lennon

Lennon was assassinated on 8 December 1980 at the age of 40 in New York City. Last month, Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman apologised to Ono during a parole hearing as he said he committed the crime for "glory".

Chapman was denied parole for the eleventh time following the hearing and will be next eligible for parole in two years.

Watch: Paul McCartney was glad he and John Lennon reconciled