Lennon memorabilia up for auction

A cheque from former Beatle John Lennon to the UK's Inland Revenue is expected to fetch £1,500 (€2,200) at auction.

Selling the item is Lindi St Clair, aka Miss Whiplash, a former madam who once stood for Parliament as leader of the Corrective Party, campaigning for more liberal sex laws.

Ms St Clair, now a duck farmer in Risbury, Herefordshire, bought Lennon’s cheque for £4,800 (€7,088) at an auction in 1988.

It was an apt purchase, as she was engaged in a tax battle at the time over her “immoral earnings”.

The item had been expected to sell for £400 (€590) but Ms St Clair refused to back down in a bidding war with the Hard Rock Café.

In the end the restaurant was beaten into submission by the wealthy madam, then living in London.

Two years later, it was Ms St Clair’s turn to surrender.

Cracking the whip on that occasion was the Inland Revenue – who declared her bankrupt.

Having fought her way back from bankruptcy to become a registered poultry keeper, Ms St Clair has decided she no longer wants the cheque, which was signed by Lennon on January 23 1968 on a District Bank Limited form and made out for £6,946 (€10,252).

Having paid over the odds for it, she is preparing to take a heavy loss.

“I don’t want it any more. I had my fun with it when I bought it,” said the 53-year-old.

“Nowadays it’s a nuisance having to keep it safe.

“Seeing as it’s the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, it could do all right, but I really don’t mind if I make a loss.

“When I bought the cheque I was earning a million pounds a year so I could afford to throw away that sort of money.

“Now I’m older and semi-retired, I do not need all those frivolous assets. I’m getting rid of everything bit by bit.”

Chris Albury, of the Dominic Winter auction house in Swindon, Wiltshire, where Ms St Clair grew up, said: “Realistically this cheque should make £1,500. However, with its incredible provenance there’s no saying where the price might end up.

“Ms St Clair is prepared to take a crashing loss, but, with it being sold in her home town on the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, she’s got a sporting chance of getting top price in today’s market conditions.”

The cheque will go on sale at the Swindon auction rooms at around 2.30pm on December 14.

John Lennon was shot dead in New York on December 8 1980.

George Harrison’s track, Taxman, on the 1966 Beatles album Revolver spoke of the band’s own ill-feeling towards the Inland Revenue.