The Beatles star George Harrison's 72-year-old piece of toast makes thousands at auction

By Fran Winston, Showbiz Reporter

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A piece of The Belatles star George Harrison's toast dating back 72 years has been rediscovered and sold at auction. The breakfast food had been preserved on a scrapbook page alongside cigarette butts and John Lennon’s guitar-case fluff for decades.

In 1962 a 15-year-old Beatles fan named Sue Houghton befriended the Harrison family. During one visit to the family home she saw a leftover crust of unfinished toast on George’s plate and slipped it into her pocket.

Sticking it in her scrapbook she wrote:"Piece of George’s breakfast. 2-8-63".

That was a significant date in Beatles' history as the group returned to Liverpool after a seven week absence to play at Merseyside’s Grafton Rooms.

The following day would be their last performance at The Cavern Club. Bob Wooler, the club’s compere has spoken about remembering Brian Epstein, The Beatles’ manager, promising they would be back one day, but due to their meteoric rise to fame it never happened.

The Beatles star Geogre Harrison's toast is now framed in museum grade, UV protected glass. (Image: Joseph O'Donnell)

It first came up for auction in 1992, when Sue’s scrapbook collection, including the infamous toast, was auctioned at Christie’s for £1,300 to help fund her home renovations.

The scrapbook pages were subsequently split up and it recently came to the market again.

The latest owner, memorabilia dealer, Joseph O’Donnell, won't disclose how much he paid for the item but he has now framed it in museum grade, UV protected glass to preserve it for several more decades.

Speaking of the genesis of the latest item in his collection he said: “It’s a brilliant story that is both bizarre, historical and a story I’ll continue telling friends, memorabilia collectors and fellow Beatles fans.”

A piece of George Harrison's toast has sold to a memorabilia collector at auction (Image: Getty)

The toast became a running joke amongst the Beatles and in 1999 Paul McCartney revealed his children teased him about leaving breakfast unfinished.

Exaggerating the story of George’s toast, which he mistakenly said sold "for $40,000’ he told German newspaper Der Spiegel“ his family were trying to jokingly squirrel away his leftover food.

"I realised that my children had heard about the toast [sic] at breakfast. They’d say: ‘Dad, you don't have to finish the bread roll,’ or ‘Do you really want half an egg? Let's clear the table.”

However in 1992 George himself appeared to quash the myth of the toast telling VOX magazine: “I ate all my toast! I never left any!”