A facsimile nonsense letter and Polaroid photograph from John Lennon, 1973

Pattie Boyd: One day this letter and Polaroid from John Lennon arrived addressed to me at Friar Park regarding selling or giving away Apple to the lowest bidder and how he saw it working out. It was typical of John's absurd nonsensical style. It was a time of chaos. Everything was happening and not happening. It was mysterious. It was just really odd times.

Although it is largely thought that the decline of the Beatles as a group began after the unexpected death of their manager Brian Epstein in 1967, it was the realisation in 1969 that Apple was in financial chaos and haemorrhaging the Beatles money that spurred Lennon and McCartney to look for a firm hand to take over the management of the Beatles' affairs. Lennon favoured Allen Klein, then business manager for the Rolling Stones, and George and Ringo followed suit. Opposed to Klein, Paul instead proposed American music lawyer Lee Eastman, father of his then girlfriend Linda. John, George and Ringo considered that the Eastman's close association with McCartney would bias the balance of the Beatles' partnership in McCartney's favour and relations soured, resulting in a three against one division.

Allen Klein and Lee Eastman's inability to co-operate with one another for the good of the Beatles succeeded in broadening the division between the two opposing factions even further. After the break up of the band in April 1970, the four Beatles were all working in different musical directions and, as Ringo recalled, the enthusiasm was just waning... It was like the wind-down to a divorce. A divorce doesn't just happen suddenly; there are months and years of misery until you finally say 'Oh, let's end it.' The Beatles' partnership was finally dissolved in January 1975.