Unpublished negatives of John Lennon with his wife Yoko Ono, taken just two days before he died, are set to go on sale at auction in the US, with prices expected to reach tens of thousands of dollars.
Intimate, unpublished pictures of John Lennon with wife Yoko Ono in our slideshow below...
The set of photographs was taken by BBC producer Paul Williams just 48 hours before the former Beatle was gunned down outside his home in New York, and is part of the same lot as a controversial piece of film footage showing John Lennon and the other Beatles on stage in Blackpool.
The images capture John Lennon sitting with wife Yoko in New York, just two days before his death
The photos were taken during John's final interview at the Hit Factory, a legendary Manhattan recording studio. DJ Andy Peebles conducted the interview for the BBC, and the material to emerge became known as the Last Lennon Tapes. Williams shot nine photos of Lennon with Ono, and one solo shot of Ono. 23 of the photos feature Peebles with unidentified people. Bidding for the negatives begins at $14,000 for the lot at Nate D Sanders Auctions.
The very last photos of John Lennon were taken by Annie Leibovitz on the day of his death.
Part of the same collection going under the hammer is 3 ½ minutes of 8 mm footage of the Beatles performing at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool, England along with backstage clips. In the earliest known color recording of the Beatles, dated August 1963, skiffle performer Chas McDevitt also captured John Lennon performing a hand-clapping routine, appearing to mock disabled people. This footage was recently shown in a Channel 4 documentary examining controversial moments from the 1960s, and was derided by disability charity Mencap as "shocking and painful to watch".
Most of the film shows the Fab Four backstage in a montage: the Beatles reading their fan mail, John Lennon playing with the Shadows’ lead guitarist Hank Marvin’s glasses, Lennon playfully combing and styling his hair, George Harrison tuning his guitar and all four band members talking to people backstage.
The lot includes a letter from Chas McDevitt, in which he relinquishes the copyright to the film and the original concert program. Bidding for the footage begins at $14,000.
Click here for more information and to register an interest online.
