A scathing letter from John Lennon to Sir Paul McCartney is going up for auction

The typewritten letter - a copy of which was sent to Melody Maker editor Richard Williams, who complied with John's request to publish it - sees John tell Paul he is ungrateful for the money he receives from The Beatles and even accused his the musician of threatening their former bandmate Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen.

It read in part: "It's all very well playing 'simple, honest old' human Paul in the Melody Maker, but you know damn well we can't just sign a piece of paper.

"You say 'John won't do it.' I will if you'll indemnify us against the tax-man!'...

"As I/we've said many times - we'll meet you whenever you like. JUST MAKE UP YOUR MIND...

"You said under no condition would you sell to us, and if we didn't do what you wanted, you'd sue us again and that 'Ringo and George are going to break you John', etc., etc.

"Now I was quite straight with you that day, and you tried to shoot me down with your emotional 'logic'.

"If you're not the aggressor (as you claim), who the hell took us to court and s***t all over us in public?...

"Who's the guy threatening to 'finish' Ringo and Maureen, who was warning me on the phone two weeks ago? Who said he'd 'get us' whatever the cost? As I've said before - have you ever thought you might possibly be wrong about something?"

Elsewhere in the three-page letter, the 'Jealous Guy' hitmaker urged Paul to meet him without lawyers present, berated him for being indecisive over the band's split, which had occurred more than a year before the note was written, and took issue with his estranged pal's criticism of his song 'Imagine'.

The note ended with a postscript in which John referred to Paul mentioning leaving their wives, Linda McCartney and Yoko Ono, out of the dispute.

He wrote: "The bit that really puzzled us was asking to meet WITHOUT LINDA AND YOKO. I know you're camp! But let's not go too far! I thought you'd have understood by no that I'm JOHNANDYOKO."