NEW YORK -John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for the Beatles masterpiece “A Day in the Life” sold for $1.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York Friday.
An unidentified American bidding by phone bought the lyrics, which were estimated to fetch $500,000 to $800,000. Three buyers competed for the document.
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Written on both sides of a single sheet of paper and signed by Lennon, the prize once belonged to Beatles road manager Mal Evans. Sotheby’s London sold the lyrics in 1992, and Bonhams in New York offered them in a sealed-bid auction in 2006, where they didn’t sell.
The sheet features crossed out words, corrections and additions in different colors.
The $1.2 million, which included a buyer’s commission, fell just short of the record for a Beatles handwritten lyric. “All You Need Is Love” sold for $1.25 million in 2005 at British-based Cooper Owen auction house.
Considered one of the Beatles’ most influential songs, “A Day in the Life” is the closing track on the band’s 1967 album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The song has segments written independently by Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Rocker urges BP boycott
NEW YORK – Korn’s Jonathan Davis is urging artists to boycott troubled oil giant BP over the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a statement issued Friday, the rock singer says he has gathered a coalition of artists, including Lady Gaga, Creed and the Backstreet Boys, and they have agreed not to use fuel sold by BP or their affiliates on their tours this year.
Meanwhile, stars including Justin Bieber, Cameron Diaz, Lenny Kravitz, Ryan Secreast are set to appear Monday on CNN’s two-hour telethon, “Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help.” Larry King is scheduled to host.
‘Potter’ stars help open park
ORLANDO, Fla. – Thousands of people waited in line for hours Friday to get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando on its opening day, as Daniel Radcliffe and other stars from the movie greeted fans at the minipark.
The Wizarding World brings the popular Harry Potter books and movies to life with rides, shops and detailed reproductions of the fictitious village of Hogsmeade, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the steam-belching Hogwarts Express train.
Radcliffe, who plays the boy wizard in the movie series, was joined at the opening by Warwick Davis (who plays Filius Flitwick), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore).
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