Next Thursday is Beatles Day, which will be celebrated fervently in Liverpool, the band’s hometown, and just as enthusiastically at Christie’s in London’s South Kensington. The saleroom is holding its annual British auction of pop memorabilia to mark the event.

The Beatles dominate the pop memorabilia market and around half of the 264 lots on offer in this sale relate to the group – including all the most costly items. The undoubted star is John Lennon’s autograph lyrics for “Give Peace a Chance”. He wrote them during his notorious Montreal “bed-in” in 1969, and gave them to 16-year-old Gail Renard, who acted as gofer while John and Yoko Ono spent a week in bed in aid of peace.