Lennon lyrics fetch BIG bucks

A former Montrealer Gail Renard and old friend of CJAD's Tommy Schnurmacher has sold the handwritten lyrics to John Lennon's ``Give Peace a Chance'' at an auction house in London today.

Christie's auction house sold the item for just over $800,000 (USD), which she obtained with Tommy during the Beatle singer's ``bed-in for peace'' at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel in May 1969.

Lennon scribbled the lyrics on a piece on cardboard with a black marker before recording ``Give Peace a Chance'' with his wife Yoko Ono and an eclectic blend of personalities in the suite during the eight-day bed-in.

Renard, a TV writer now living in London, says she was able to get into the suite with her schoolmate, Tommy Schnurmacher, by sneaking in through back staircases, a fire escape and by outsmarting a security guard.

Renard, who was just 16 at the time, says Lennon gave her the lyrics himself, telling her they would be worth something one day.

Dozens of previously unpublished photographs Renard took during the event, meant to draw attention to the war in Vietnam, are also going under the hammer at the rock and pop memorabilia sale.