Signed Beatles record goes on sale

The seven-inch copy of Please Please Me is described as “very, very rare” and has an estimate of £7,000 to £8,000. The annual Beatles memorabilia auction, which takes place in the band’s home city of Liverpool, also includes a number of times belonging John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr as well as their manager Brian Epstein.

Other highlights are three rarely seen photographs of the band taken at Newcastle City Hall and the Sunderland Empire as Beatlemania was sweeping the world in November 1963.

The pictures were taken by freelance photographer Keith Perry and the negatives lay forgotten for 48 years. Each one is being sold with full, worldwide copyright and they are expected to attract a frenzy of bids.

A cap belonging to John Lennon is also expected to attract huge interest and carries an estimate of up to £4,000.

Among the more unusual items up for sale is a compulsory purchase order issued for the famous Cavern Club before it was filled in with concrete in the early 1970s. The order, dated November 17 1970, carries an estimate of up to £5,500.

Other memorabilia collected from the Mathew Street venue include a piece of the stage, which could fetch £1,600 to £1,800.

A programme for the reopening of the Cavern, carried out by then prime minister Harold Wilson in July 1966, has a guide price of £80 to £120. The auction is also inviting bids for a telegram addressed to “Mr G Starkex” sent by comedy star Peter Sellers to Ringo Starr and first wife Maureen on August 21 1968.