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Under the hammer

The black knitted tie was discovered by retired civil servant Joyce McWilliams, 66, who found it with some rare signed postcards, when she was clearing out her house. Ms McWilliams, who was handed the tie by Lennon himself at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, got £3,627 for the item, which was one of hundreds of lots which went up for auction.

Mrs McWilliams obtained the tie and some autographed photographs in 1962 when she was a 15-year-old trainee comptometer (key-driven calculator) operator, and used to attend lunchtime sessions at Liverpool’s famous Cavern.