Beatles photo 'draws thousands'

The photo is among 400 unpublished shots of the group

A rare photograph of The Beatles on sale in an internet auction has attracted huge interest from bidders, auctioneers have said.

The 1965 picture, which lay undiscovered for more than 30 years, has reached £6,900 in bids and the auction website attracted more than 30,000 visitors during its first few hours online, organisers said.

It is part of a collection taken by Hungarian photojournalist Michael Peto, who gained intimate access to the band on the set of their feature film Help!

The auction is being overseen by staff at the University of Dundee - where the photo lay undiscovered until the end of last year.

It was among a collection of more than 400 unpublished Beatles pictures, part of an archive of 130,000 stills bequeathed to the university by Peto's stepson, a former student.

The photograph was apparently taken on 12 June 1965 - the day it was announced The Beatles would be honoured with MBEs.

The auction will not close until 26 September. Proceeds will go to the Institute for Cardiovascular Research (TICR) appeal at the university's medical school.