The Sex Pistols frontman was booked onto Pan Am flight 103 in December, 1988 but missed check-in because his wife Nora had become held up while packing her suitcase.

All 243 passengers and 16 crew on board the London to New York flight perished when a bomb exploded in the luggage hold at 31,000 feet, destroying the aircraft in the skies above Scotland.

Lydon admits the horror still weighs heavy on his mind but his narrow escape made him realise it is important to take a positive approach to life.

Asked by a journalist for rock magazine Q if the events of that day "chill him to the core", he replies, "Oh yeah. There but for my missus (wife) being divvy (silly) with the luggage, right?"

When asked if such a brush with death affects his outlook, he adds, "It does. My attitude was always positive. But that made it even more so. And I will always preach love and adoration for my fellow human beings."