POP/ROCK - Sept. 15, 1987

The town where the Beatles were born has accepted an offer from a Los Angeles businessman to commission a $7-million bronze statue of John Lennon, Liverpool officials said. The 15-foot-tall work will be sculpted by an Australian artist and completed within four years, the officials said. Attorneys for Richard Saxby declined to say why he was donating the statue to Liverpool. The city has yet to decide where to place it. Lennon was murdered by a gunman outside his New York apartment in December, 1980.