Lennon's car boot letter to Queen worth £60k

A LETTER written to the Queen by Beatle John Lennon - which was found in a batch of 45s picked up at a car booty in Liverpool for a tenner - has been valued at £60,000

The letter dates from November 1969 when Lennon returned his MBE to Buckingham Palace in protest at Britain’s involvement  in the conflict between Nigeria and Biafra and Britain’s support of America in the Vietnam War.

Being John Lennon there has to be a twist, so he added that his return of his gong was also a protest against his solo record Cold Turkey slipping down the record charts.

The hand-written letter, which was also sent to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and the secretary of the Central Chancery, was written on notepaper headed Bag Productions, the company Lennon had recently set up with Yoko Ono.

Lennon wrote: “Your Majesty. I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts. With love John Lennon."

It is signed John Lennon of Bag.

It came to light in an attic, in the sleeve of a single bought in a batch for just £10 at a car boot sale 20 years ago.

It was the star item last night at a special Beatles memorabilia day held at The Beatles Story in Liverpool when Los Angeles auctioneers Julien’s Auctions put values on items and memorabilia from the days of the famous Liverpool band.

The owner of the letter wants to remain anonymous, but lives on North Merseyside. He was said to have been stunned when celebrity auctioneer Darren Julian placed his value. 

The Beatles received their MBEs in 1965. Ringo Starr recalled: 'We all thought it was really thrilling. We’re going to meet the Queen and she’s going to give us a badge. I thought, This is cool!'

“We don’t know at the moment whether the letter will be put up for auction,” the spokeswoman told Liverpool Confidential. “The man who brought it was stunned when he was told its value. He had always assumed it was just a copy.”

It has been described as an “incredible find” by music memorabilia expert Darren Julien of Los Angeles based Julien’s Auctions.”

The actual letter, handed to the Queen on November 25, 1969, by Lennon's chauffeur Les Anthony, along with the award in its presentation case, bears exactly the same words, but in this version the ink on the salutation and signature is slightly smudged.  

Julien says it might explain how it ended up in the hands of a member of the public.

The smudged ink letter found in a batch of singles bought for a tenner at a Liverpool car boot sale was yesterday valued at £60,000

He said: “You can quite clearly see that the signature in this letter has been smudged. My theory is that John Lennon never sent this draft because of the smeared ink. If you’re writing to The Queen, you want the letter to look pretty perfect, you don’t want the ink to be smudged. This suggests that he wrote a second version of the letter, which was the one that was actually sent to The Queen.”

Julien, director at LA-based Julien’s Auctions, said he was thrilled to have come across it it during his brief visit to The Beatles Story in Liverpool.

“Being the birthplace of The Beatles, I was quite confident that we would uncover something special during the memorabilia day at The Beatles Story," he said.

“We have seen some fascinating pieces of memorabilia during the event. However, this is a real stand out piece. I believe this letter has the potential to sell for a lot of money at auction, around £60,000.

“We’ll be doing some further research but this could be the Beatles find of the year. There is no doubt that the handwriting is definitely that of John Lennon.”

John and Yoko with an exact copy of the letter founding a batch of singles bought for a tenner at a Liverpool car boot sale

The Beatles received the “Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.” in 1965 but according to accounts they were pretty nonplussed - and didn't even know what it was.  Ringo Starr recalled: “He (Epstein) said, ‘What do you think, boys?’ I had no problem with it- none of us had any problems with it in the beginning. We all thought it was really thrilling. We’re going to meet the Queen and she’s going to give us a badge. I thought, ‘This is cool!'”

The letter was just one of a number of items belonging to members of the public that were valued during the memorabilia day at The Beatles Story.

Another find at the valuation was a painting of  Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. It was rescued from the original Cavern Club in Liverpool’s Mathew Street when it closed its doors for the last time in 1973, was valued at  5,000 pounds (6,200 U.S.dollars). The owner of the painting Hal Morris worked as a cleaner at the Cavern Club and was given the portrait of the Fab Four drummer by a builder who was about to throw it into a skip.

Cold Turkey was a long written by John Lennon  and released by the Plastic Ono Band in 1969. It only reached number 14 in the British record charts, but it fell to 15th, prompting Lennon to mention it in his letter to the Queen.