£12,000 for John Lennon Letter

A letter written by John Lennon to a journalist who accused The Beatles of ripping off black music has sold at auction for £12,000 ($22,000).

Lennon's angry, handwritten message reads: "Many kids were turned on to black music by us. It wasn't a rip off, it was a love-in".

The letter was one of 12 items of Lennon memorabilia under the hammer at the Bonhams auction house in London.

A copy of the Sergeant Pepper album signed by The Beatles sold for £14,000.

However, a black felt hat which Lennon wore in the last official Beatles photoshoot failed to sell.

There have been several auctions of Lennon-related items in recent months. A schoolbook featuring the singer's drawing of Lewis Carroll's poem The Walrus and the Carpenter sold for £126,000 in April.

Lennon had a profound influence on rock 'n' roll and in expanding the genre's boundaries during the 1960s. He is widely considered, along with McCartney, to be one of the most influential singer-songwriter-musicians of the 20th century.

Many of the songs written exclusively or primarily by Lennon are more introspective - often in the first person - and more personal than McCartney's. His most surreal pieces of songwriting, "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus", are examples of his unique style.