John Lennon cartoon fetches £37,000 at auction

A SELF-portrait cartoon of John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono drafted during their infamous 1969 "bed-in" sold for more than £37,000 at auction yesterday.

The simple caricature was drawn by the former Beatle as he staged his peace protest in Suite 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada.

The rock and pop memorabilia sale at Christie's in London also saw a sequinned jacket worn by Michael Jackson fetch more than ten times its estimate.

The black stage jacket prompted a bidding frenzy from two hopeful buyers, pushing the pre-sale estimate of about 2,000 to a final sale price of 22,500 on the eve of the first anniversary of the star's death.

The Lennon picture was drawn in felt pen during the week-long bed-in, during which he and Ono gave press conferences about the need for world peace, and performed the song Give Peace A Chance.