BEFORE The Beatles came to Australia in 1964, Ernie Sigley flew to London to interview them.The Fab Four went on a holiday to Tahiti and Mr Sigley missed them by a day.When on a flight with them in 1964 from Sydney to Adelaide, Mr Sigley told John Lennon how he had missed them by 24 hours, Lennon turned to Paul McCartney and said: "Hey Paul, this is the bloody idiot that flew all the way from Australia to interview us".The story broke the ice and led to some of the best Beatles interviews during their Australian Tour.Mr Sigley was in Ballarat last night to launch the John Lennon - Imagine! exhibition, featuring rare photos of John Lennon through his career."It's quite sad in a way because I've never got over him since he died," Mr Sigley said."He was a lovely bloke and I think he was the best of the Beatles, the most talented."The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday and will run until Easter Monday."When I had my place at Buninyong I used to come and walk around the gallery once a month," Mr Sigley said.Mr Sigley used to host shows on BTV 6 before moving to television in Melbourne and radio in London.He said John would be very proud to see the photos on display."I was a massive fan and still am," Mr Sigley said.Mr Sigley began as a DJ when he was 14 and could tell the Beatles were going to be big despite what other journalists believed in 1964."I could tell they were good, they were the Mozarts of the 60s," he said.