Like many, I've gone through phases of hero worship through the years, but in truth very few have left any lasting impression on me. My father, certainly. Bird and Cruijff as sports heroes. Holden Caulfield, bizarrely. And then there's my Main Man John.

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of John's murder. Gerard van der Leun, a producer who had been with John the day before he died, remembers his last encounter...