Paul McCartney drawings and lyrics(?), dated 1958

John Lennon's notebook with a poem and a sketch completed at Astrid Kirchherr's flat in Hamburg, Germany | 1961

John Lennon & May Pang witness a UFO in New York City, NY | 23 August 1974

A signed program from The Night Of 100 Stars charity revue at the London Palladium with cover art by John Lennon | 23 July 1964

Portrait of John Lennon | © (attributed to) Stuart Sutcliffe

This painting is believed to have been hanging in the sunroom at John Lennon's Kenwood home before he gifted it to Bernard Clark - Director of Photography for Cave Photographic Studios - after he had prevented Lennon from completely tearing it apart in a moment of frustration.

John Lennon & Klaus Voormann at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany | October 1960 © Klaus Voormann

"I came out and was walking around. I was in the Grosse Freiheit when I heard a lot of noise coming from a basement. I went down to see what was going on. I'd never been in a club like it before. It was a very rough scene down there. There were some real tough rockers, all in leather. But I was knocked out by the group on stage and the noise they were making. So very carefully I sat down to listen."

The club was the Kaiserkeller, but it wasn't the Beatles on stage. It was Rory Storm's group, with Ringo on drums. Without realizing it Klaus had sat down beside the other resident group.

"I was staring at them because they looked so funny. They wore check jackets, black and white check. The most ridiculous-looking of all – Stu as I discovered later – had his hair piled really high and was wearing long pointed shoes and sunglasses. Not really sunglasses, just those sun things you clip over ordinary glasses. They went on stage and I realized that they were the other group. They did Sweet Little Sixteen with John singing it. They knocked me out even more than Rory did. I couldn't take my eyes off them. I wanted to speak to them, to get near them, but I didn't know how to. I was scared with all the rockers. I was embarrassed and felt out of it. But I stayed there all night. I couldn't get over how they played together so well, so powerful and so funny. And all the time they were jumping around. I gathered they kept it up for eight hours as well."

He got home in the early hours of the morning and told Astrid where he'd been. She was rather disgusted with him, spending an evening at a club in St Pauli. He told her how marvellous this group was. She wasn't interested. She refused to come back with him the next night. So he went alone.

This time he thought of a way of introducing himself to them, of getting to know them, or at least saying hello. He took with him a pop record cover he had designed for a single called Walk Don't Run. He'd done one or two covers, as a commercial artist, although most of his work had been for magazines. He thought the Beatles would be interested to see it. He sat around for a long time, trying to get nearer and nearer. When the Beatles at last sat down for their rest turn, he approached John, who seemed to be the leader. In very halting, schoolboy English, Klaus showed him the record. It made little effect on John.

"I just remember this bloke shoving a cover in my hand, I didn't know why," says John. John muttered something about Stu being the artist, and he'd better show the cover to him. Klaus started to move towards Stu but something happened and he couldn't get to him. So he had to sit down again, feeling more scared and embarrassed. Instead he just listened to the music all night through again.

John Lennon's sketch that he made during the filming of How I Won The War | 1966

Killing time during filming, John doodled on a piece of military tarpaulin. He sketched a self-portrait with stubbled chin and round glasses. He mischievously wrote "Shroud of Turin" across the top - this was just weeks after the "bigger than Jesus" controversy. He added "love" and "hate" to roughly-sketched knuckles, "Holy Batman" referencing his character, and "I knew this would happen" from his final lines in the script. With the Jesus incident still on his mind, he included a cross and Ku Klux Klan hood, also scribing "Elvis" and "Marijuana" into the piece.

Part of a picture drawn by The Beatles during their stay at the Tokyo Hilton Hotel in Japan | 2 July 1966 © Koh Hasebe

Animals drawn by John Lennon.

Handy Jotter sketch book used by John Lennon