Photo / gary8345
The Challen piano was housed in Studio 3 at the north London recording studio, and was apparently used in the recording of the band's 1966 single Paperback Writer (okay, so it's not Hey Jude, but equally, it's not Octopus's Garden). Curiously, the song doesn't appear to have any piano on it — maybe they were just using it as a place to rest their drinks, or a distraction to keep Ringo busy while the other three worked on the track.
The instrument, which was also used by other bands including Pink Floyd, was "retired" in 1980. It is expected to fetch around £150,000 at auction; a useful wad of cash for EMI, whose financial troubles are such that they were even considering selling their famous studios to turn a quick buck.
Fancy a quick tickle of the ivories? Check out the street pianos stationed around town for the summer