A school book belonging to Sir Paul McCartney has sold at auction for £46,800 after two fans became embroiled in a bidding war

The book - which was used by 76-year-old McCartney during his English Literature lessons at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and was owned by a family in Liverpool who'd had it "for as long as they can remember" - sold for nearly 10 times the estimated price by a telephone bidder in the UK.

The tome contained 22 pages of essays by the 'Hey Jude' songwriter when he was a teenager, including pieces about Thomas Hardy's novel 'The Return of the Native' and John Milton's acclaimed poem 'Paradise Lost'.

Also contained within the pages of the book was a doodle of a man smoking, and some critical comments made by Macca's teacher Alan 'Dusty' Durband, even though the musician's grades were high, ranging from B- to B++.

Speaking about the unexpectedly high price the historic piece sold for, Karen Fairweather - Director of Omega Auctions - said: "The bidding went on for 15 minutes, the longest we've ever had. They were two people who really wanted it so drove up the price in £200 bids. There was a round of applause at the end."

Elsewhere in the auction, a pair of John Lennon's 12-karat gold Hibo wrap-around frames glasses fetched £9,600, but a cassette belonging to the late George Harrison known as the "Hitler tapes", which contained unheard tracks recorded in 1978 by the guitarist, did not sell.

John - who was assassinated in New York City in 1980 at the age of 40 - started a trend for oval-shaped glassless lenses in the 60s, and they remain fashionable to this day.

The cassette included tracks by George - who died from lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 58 - titled 'Spoken Intro George Legs Harry' and 'Brazil 1,2 & 3'.

The auction also saw a Cavern Club brick sell for £420 and an Abbey Road sign being snapped out for £4,000.