LONDON, Nov 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A pair of John Lennon’s trademark round
sunglasses are going up for auction along with a parking ticket given to
Beatles drummer Ringo Starr — items kept for half a century by a former
driver for the band.
Alan Herring, who worked as a chauffeur for Starr and bandmate George
Harrison in the late 60s, said Lennon had given him the glasses after leaving
them on the back seat of his Mercedes.
“When John got out of the car I noticed that he’d left these sunglasses on
the back seat and one lens and one arm had become disconnected,” he said.
“I asked John if he’d like me to get them fixed for him. He told me not to
worry, that they were just for the look.”
The vintage glasses and the parking ticket — issued on April 25, 1969 in
London outside the band’s own label Apple Records — will be sold online by
Sotheby’s with other Beatles memorabilia next month.
Herring said the decision to sell the objects was an emotional one, but
that “the memories I have of this very special time in my life working with
the Beatles are far more important to me”.
The brown, creased o2 parking ticket is expected to fetch o1,500 ($1,900,
1,700 euro), while the sunglasses — which Herring never did get mended —
could sell for o8,000.
Other items going under the hammer between December 6 to 13 include a
cigarette lighter kept in Herring’s car, shirts worn by the Fab Four and
Harrison’s guitar with a predicted price of o60,000.