JOHN Lennon's childhood home in Liverpool is due to be opened the public by his widow Yoko Ono.

Lennon lived at the Mendips, in Menlove Avenue, Woolton, from the ages of five to 23.

The semi-detached house was donated to the National Trust by his widow, Yoko Ono, in March 2002.

She is due to officially open it to the public on Thursday.

Ono has asked that it be preserved as it was when Lennon lived there so people can glimpse the early experiences which helped inspire his genius.

The house is close to his childhood haunt Strawberry Field - a Salvation Army children's home which he later immortalised in song - and the early Beatles hit Please Please Me was also written there.

Lennon often practised his guitar in the front porch while his early band, The Quarrymen, and later The Beatles, also rehearsed there.