John Lennon love letter goes on sale

A 1962 love letter from John Lennon to his future wife Cynthia, in which he complains about Paul McCartney's snoring, will be sold at Christie's next month, the London auction house said.

The 21-year old Lennon wrote the four-page letter over five nights in April 1962, during the Beatles' residency at the Star-Club in Hamburg.

"I love love love you and I'm missing you like mad," wrote the songwriter, before adding a lewd suggestion.

The letter is expected to fetch up to £40,000 ($54,000) when it is sold on July 9.

Lennon's letter opens referencing the death of his close friend and his anxieties about going to visit Sutcliffe's fiancée. "I haven't seen Astrid since the day we arrived, I've thought of going to see her but I would be so awkward — I won't write any more about it 'cause it's not much fun," he wrote.

He opposed Cynthia's plans to share a house with McCartney's then girlfriend Dot Rhone in Liverpool, saying "we would never be alone really ... imagine having her there all the time when we were in bed — and imagine Paul coming all the time".

He complained about his bandmate's bedtime habits, writing "Paul's leaping about on my head (he's in a bunk on top of me and he's snoring) ... Shurrup M carntey (sic)!...

Lennon signed off the letter: "I love you I love you please wait for me and don't be sad and work hard be a clever little Cyn Powell".

Cynthia Powell dated Lennon from 1958 and they married in August 1962, giving birth to their son Julian in April 1963.

They divorced in 1968, and a year later Lennon married Yoko Ono.