Their sound defined a decade and spawned a thousand imitations, but a long lost jukebox owned by John Lennon has revealed that, when it came to musical inspiration, even the Beatles got by with a little help from their friends.
The 15 kg portable jukebox, owned by Lennon around 40 years ago, was bought by the late Bristol music promoter John Midwinter for just £2,500 at a Christie’s sale of Beatles memorabilia in 1989. He then spent years restoring it to working order and researching its 41 discs. Listed in Lennon’s handwriting, they are effectively the Desert Island Discs which helped shape his musical genius.