‘Holy grail’ acetate of Beatles’ Decca recordings to be auctioned

A super-rare 78rpm acetate disc containing two songs from The Beatles' unsuccessful audition for Decca Records is to be auctioned in March. The disc contains recordings of Till There Was You and Hello Little Girl, credited in manager Brian Epstein's handwriting to "Paul McCartney & The Beatles" and "John Lennon & The Beatles" respectively. It has been described by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn as one of the "rarest and most collectable of all Beatles records". The Beatles' failed Decca audition took place on 1 January 1962. Shortly afterwards Epstein took a reel-to-reel tape of the songs to HMV in London's