LATEST: Former BEATLE JOHN LENNON's lyrics for GIVE PEACE A CHANCE have sold at auction for $833,654 (GBP416,827).

The valuable notes went under the hammer on Thursday (10Jul08) at London auction house Christie's, alongside a collection of a rock and pop memorabilia.

They were written during Lennon's 1969 bed-in protest for peace at the Queens Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada.

The musician gave the music sheet to then 16-year-old Gail Renard in 1969, after Renard and a friend posed as journalists and ended up spending the rest of the week with the late Beatle and his widow Yoko Ono.

Lennon gave Renard a few mementos including the lyrics, according to a Christie's spokesperson, telling her: "One day they will be worth something".