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CNN Live At Daybreak

Beatles Memorabilia Goes Up for Auction

Aired April 30, 2002 - 05:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Beatles' fans can buy a piece of Rock and Roll history today. Some of the Fab Four's memorabilia goes on the block at Christie's Auction House in London. Our Richard Quest is live in London with the Beatles's buzz. Hey, good morning, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning dear Carol. I suspect, if I asked you, could you sing the words to the song, "Hey Jude", it would take you just seconds before you'd join in with me; wouldn't it?

COSTELLO: Absolutely, let's do it. No let's not.

QUEST: No, I'd rather - not outside the bathroom, anyway, let me tell you. Anyway one of these things that won't be on sale at the Beatles's auction at Christie's in London is one of the original manuscripts from the song, "Hey Jude", by the Beatles. And the reason is, Carol, is that Sir Paul McCartney, who wrote the song back in the early days of the Beatles career, he says it was actually stolen from his house many, many years ago.

What's happened is, this manuscript was bought in 1971 by a Frenchman for the Princely sum of 10 pounds. That's about $14. And now is expected to fetch over $120,000 when it came up for auction. But, Sir Paul McCartney says, it was his all along, it was in his handwriting. It was one of the original manuscripts. It went missing from his home, and therefore should not be sold at auction. And a high court judge in London has agreed, and stopped the sale of this precious and valuable work.

The history of "Hey Jude" of course, is littered with, to some extent, controversy. It was written, but for actually Julian Lennon, John Lennon's son, to try and cheer him up. I'm not if it would work, bearing in mind the words and the nature of the song, over the divorce of his parents. Now there will be another court case, Carol, to decide whether or not, "Hey Jude", the manuscript, with a couple of lines missing, will actually go back to Paul McCartney or will go up for auction.

COSTELLO: Yes, because isn't the argument that they can't prove that Paul McCartney owned the piece of paper that he wrote the lyrics to the song on all those years ago?

QUEST: Well this is it, you see. He says it was kept at his house; it was great sentimental value. And he was devastated by its loss. The other side say, well if you were that devastated, A, you never reported it to the police, and B, you could go and bid for it at auction and maybe when the court rules, you'll get it back anyway. What the judge says is, no. If he was to bid for it and lose, A, the price would go up, and also the manuscript could go abroad. They also want to know if it was so sentimental, so important, so precious to Paul McCartney, why didn't he bid for it himself?

Carol, there will be other things that will be available. For example, there will be one of the original acetate recordings of the Beatles's songs. There will be other manuscripts, and you know, every few years Beatles's memorabilia comes back to the auction house. And to prove the point, many years ago - going back a good ten or 15 years ago - the first journalistic story I covered in London. You ready for this?

COSTELLO: I'm ready.

QUEST: Was the sale -- Was the sale of John Lennon's white Rolls Royce, back in 1980 something or other. Let's gloss over the date. So Beatles memorabilia comes up quite a lot. What you don't get is this sort of litigation that often where there is something so precious as, for example, one piece of paper with handwritten lyrics.

COSTELLO: Well, we're going to keep track of that piece of paper, to find out where it eventually ends up. Thank you Richard Quest; reporting live for us from London this morning. We appreciate it.

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