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Document with clues to Beatles song Eleanor Rigby could raise £500,000

A possible clue to the identity of the real life woman behind the Beatles' hit Eleanor Rigby is expected to fetch £500,000 at auction later this month.

The document is a 97-year-old salary register from Liverpool City Hospital and features the name E. Rigby, a scullery maid who has signed for her monthly wage. Her annual earnings were £14.

Paul McCartney has previously claimed the heroine of the poignant song was fictional.

The grave of an Eleanor Rigby, who in the song died with no one to mourn her, was also discovered in the churchyard of St. Peter's in Woolton, Liverpool, close to where McCartney met John Lennon in 1957.

According to its owner Annie Mawson, the document was sent to her in 1990 by McCartney when she wrote to him on behalf of her charity the Sunbeams Music Trust (www.sunbeamsmusic.org), which uses music to help people with special needs.

She said: "I wrote ... to Paul and asked him for half a million pounds. But by the end of the letter I just said 'Look, I know you're a very caring person and I feel it's a privilege to share my story with you...' "
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)