Ringo's star birthday treat now up for grabs at auction

Bonham's employee Ruth Fletcher holds Audrey Hepburn's never-before-seen intimate letters which are part of the auction house's upcoming Entertainment Memorabilia sale at their showroom in Knightsbridge, London. Picture: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

The album, being auctioned by Bonhams today, is signed in blue ink John Lennon and Paul McCartney and in black ballpoint pen by George Harrison, after a chance meeting at Abbey Road Studios in 1967.

Ringo’s signature was added later in 1997 as a special 50th birthday present for the album’s owner.

Incredibly a friend, who had become friends with Terry Oates who represented Ringo, arranged for him to meet him to sign his album for his birthday treat.

The Hepburn letters, written between 1951 and 1960, reveal a tumultuous time in the actress’s private affairs as she dealt with her stratospheric rise from an unknown, struggling ballerina to one of the most famous

faces on Earth.

Hepburn’s broken off engagement, marriage, and birth of her first child are all recorded in her characteristic loopy script. The personal letters are expected to fetch £3,000-£4,000.

On offer too is a Dalek from the BBC series Doctor Who and the notebook in which Freddie Mercury wrote the lyrics for some of Queen’s hits while the singer battled the illness that led to his untimely death in 1991. It is estimated at £50,000-70,000.

Katherine Schofield, Bonhams head of entertainment memorabilia, said: “The lyrics are both beautiful and sad, as on reflection, we know Mercury was battling HIV at the time. This knowledge makes the words all the more poignant.”