John Lennon's Post-Beatles Split Letter to the McCartneys Up for Auction

A letter written by John Lennon to Paul and Linda McCartney, in which Lennon takes aim at his former bandmate, is expected to fetch as much as £40,000 ($65,000) when it goes up for auction in the US next month.

The draft, acquired by a collector from a Lennon family member and believed to have been written (but never sent) in 1971, serves to highlight the extent of the rift between the two Beatles in the aftermath of the band's demise a year earlier, the Daily Telegraph reports.

A reply to a previous correspondence from the McCartneys, it begins with the words: "I was reading your letter and wondering what middle-aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it."

Lennon goes on to condemn the treatment of his wife Yoko Ono at the hands of the rest of the band. He wrote: "I hope you realise what s--- you and the rest of my 'kind and unselfish' friends laid on Yoko and me."

Elsewhere, Lennon states his regret at accepting the MBE from the Queen. Although he returned his award in 1969, Paul McCartney did not. "I'm not ashamed of the Beatles -- (I did start it all), but of some of the s--- we took to make them so big -- I thought we all felt that way in varying degrees -- obviously not", Lennon wrote.

Watch the Video to the Beatles' 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away'