A rare Beatles album will be offered for sale at between £20,000 and £40,000 in a Tyneside auction.
The album, in the Anderson & Garland Newcastle sale on August 27, links to the filming of the Beatles’ second feature film, Help!, and to the band’s return flight from the Bahamas in March 1965.
The band - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - had travelled to the Bahamas in February 1965 to film warm weather location scenes for the movie, directed by Richard Lester.
The band spent 15 consecutive days filming across locations including Nassau, Balmoral Island and the Nassau Beach Hotel.
A BOAC Boeing 707 was chartered for the journey, a flight nicknamed by those on board the “Beatles Bahamas Express”.
Among the cabin crew on the return leg was Angela Bass (née Bourton), a BOAC air stewardess. During the flight back to London, landing at 7.05am the following morning, Mrs Bass had the opportunity to spend considerable time in conversation with all four Beatles and asked them to sign her personal copy of the Beatles ‘65 album.
John, Paul and Ringo signed the reverse of the sleeve while George signed the front.
Mrs Bass also secured their autographs on the flight’s first class menu, which included Canadian salmon mayonnaise, breast of chicken Madeira, French beans and roast potatoes, a tossed salad with Roquefort dressing, a wine list drawn from Bordeaux and the Côte d’Or, and a choice of English or American cigarettes.
That menu was later sold for more than £5,000 and was subsequently acquired by The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool, where it now resides.
The album has remained in the Bass family ever since and is now being consigned for sale by Angela Bass’s son, Max Bass, on behalf of himself and his two brothers.
He said: “Mum was lucky enough to be the stewardess on the flight bringing them back, and as was her way, she made the most of the experience and spent time talking to all of them.
“She particularly enjoyed chatting with George Harrison, who she said she talked to for hours, and always said how easy he was to get on with.
“This album has stayed in the family ever since our mother passed, and between the three of us brothers, we decided the best thing was to move it on to a collector who would really value it.”
Signed copies of any Beatles album are exceptionally scarce, and copies of American-only releases signed by all four members are rarer still. Work by autograph researchers has identified only one other signed copy of Beatles ‘65 known to exist.
Beatles ‘65 was released in the United States and Canada on December 15 1964, issued by Capitol Records as the North American equivalent of Beatles for Sale and drawing on material from the group’s EMI recordings.
The record topped the Billboard albums chart for nine consecutive weeks from January 1965 and went on to be certified triple platinum in the United States.
Jack Orgill, auctioneer at Anderson & Garland, said: “We’ve been delighted by the level of interest this album has generated. Opportunities to acquire a fully signed album with such impeccable provenance are exceptionally rare.
“What makes this example so special is that it isn’t just signed by all four Beatles, it comes with a documented story that places it at a fascinating moment in the band’s history. The return flight from the Bahamas gives it a provenance that collectors simply cannot recreate.”