Rare Beatles ‘Holy Grail’ record expected to fetch £10,000 at auction after sitting in loft for fifty years

Under the hammer: A Rare Beatles record will go up for auction
Fox Photos/Getty Images
Jennifer Ruby26 February 2016
The Weekender

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A rare Beatles record will go under the hammer at auction for the first time next month.

Described as the ‘Holy Grail’, the one-off recording of songs Till There Was You and Hello Little Girl is expected to fetch upwards of £10,000.

This will be the first time that the record will become available to the public after it was discovered in the loft of keyboardist Les Maguire.

The Gerry and the Pacemakers musician was given the record by Beatles manager Brain Epstein back in 1963 and it lay forgotten in his home for fifty years.

Epstein’s hand-writing can be seen on the disc, which is labelled as being the work of ‘Paul McCartney & The Beatles.’

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It was pressed at the HMV store on Oxford Street and was first given to producer George Martin in a bid for him to sign the unknown band.

Maguire told the BBC: “I've never been a big fan of memorabilia, but people seem to like it.

"It's no good to me so I've given it to my granddaughter, who is hoping to buy a house after passing her accountancy exams. I hope it goes for a good price."

Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn has said that the record was “enhanced by Brian Epstein's handwriting on the labels, and the recognition of what it led to.”

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