A guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles has sold for $408,000 at auction.
The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by the VOX company, was bought by an unidentified US buyer in New York.
The guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles has sold for $408,000 at auction
George Harrison played I Am The Walrus on the guitar in a scene from Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. John Lennon used it in a video for Hello, Goodbye later that year.
Julien’s Auctions said the guitar had exceeded its estimated value of $200,000-$300,000.
After playing the guitar, John Lennon gave it as a 25th birthday present to Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas, a member of The Beatles’ inner circle in the 1960s.
A plaque on the back reads: “To Magic Alex/ Alexi thank you/ for been [sic] a friend/ 2-5-1967 John.”
Alexis Mardas sold the instrument in 2004.
Previously unseen footage of The Beatles sharing fish and chips while filming their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour has been posted online.
Arts website The Space is hosting the footage, discovered during the making of a new documentary about the film.
The documentary shows The Beatles taking a break from the Magical Mystery Tour coach at a fish bar in Taunton, Somerset.
The film was first broadcast by the BBC on Boxing Day 1967.
Previously unseen footage of The Beatles sharing fish and chips while filming their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour
It was not a hit, confusing the festive audience, and was savaged by critics in reviews that branded it “rubbish”.
The film will be shown on 6 October on BBC Two for the first time in more than 33 years.
It will follow a new documentary, Arena: The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, looking at the film’s “artistic merit and cultural significance”.
Arena has placed the previously unseen footage, which it said was reclaimed from the “cutting room floor”, into a new short film made in association with The Beatles’ record label Apple.
Featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, it was shot en route to Newquay, Cornwall, the final destination of the Magical Mystery Tour.
The video is available to watch online on The Space, the arts website developed by the Arts Council and the BBC.
It is part of a spin-off project from award-winning documentary series Arena, called The Arena Hotel.
The project will see the show open up its archive of 600 films to audiences in a “virtual hotel” environment.
“Few people have seen Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety and the material in the chip shop has never been shown anywhere,” explained Arena editor Anthony Wall.
“It captures perfectly the fabulous world of The Beatles at this time.
“They’re happily rubbing shoulders and sharing a simple meal with the other passengers on the coach, and at the same time creating an extraordinarily avant garde film, which of course would soon be broadcast by the BBC to a dumbstruck nation.”
This week marks 50 years since The Beatles had their first hit record with their single Love Me Do.
Released on 5 October 1962, it went to number 17 in the charts.
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