Choc n' roll: Guitar to mark John Lennon's 75th birthday

An incr-edible Rickenbacker guitar made out of chocolate cake to celebrate John Lennon’s 75th birthday has been bought by a music producer for £2,500 with all proceeds going to charity.

The cake was unveiled at a special event to mark John’s birthday at The Beatles Story in Liverpool on Friday (9th Oct).

At the special event, producer of ‘Let It Be’, the global smash-hit musical currently performing in the city, Jeff Parry announced he would buy the cake for a whopping £2,500.

Mr. Parry, from Canada, arrived at the event with guitarist and songwriter Randy Bachman, of Bachman Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who, famous for their much-covered hit American Woman, and the stars of Let It Be.

He announced that the huge sum would be donated to the ‘Imagine No Food Poverty’ campaign, which aims to highlight the problem of food poverty in Britain.

The campaign is being led by The Beatles Story, as well as Can Cook, who created the spectacular cake with cake designer Rachel Nugent, and John Lennon’s sister Julia Baird.

They aim to encourage people to cook using healthy ingredients to make nourishing meals, even on a tight budget. The cake will be on display at the Royal Court for six weeks where theatre-goers can have their picture taken with it provided they purchase a brownie for two pounds.

All money from the sale of the brownies will go to the Imagine No Food Poverty campaign.

Jeff, from Annerin Productions, said: “As a huge Beatles fan from Canada it is an absolute honour to be in the city on Lennon’s 75th birthday and also wonderful that the show ‘Let It Be’ also has aligned with this significant event.

“I am only too happy to support this worthy campaign and we will continue to promote the campaign this evening at our special performance.”

The cake – which was kept top secret until the event at Albert Dock in Liverpool - is made out of chocolate because that was the late icon’s favourite.

Julia, who was not at the event because she celebrates her brother’s birthday privately, said: “When John was young, it was war time and food was scarce so our family used to save up our chocolate rations so that when John’s birthday was coming up we could make him his favourite cake.

“He loved chocolate cake and this year as it would have been John’s 75th birthday I wanted to tell the story and tie it in with fighting food poverty in his hometown of Liverpool today.”

Take a trip down 'Penny Lane' with Julia and watch the 'Imagine No Food Poverty' campaign here.

Can Cook director Robbie Davison said: “It’s fantastic that Jeff has donated so much money to the charity and which helps in the fight towards food poverty in Liverpool and the rest of the country.

“Food poverty in the UK means over a million families with children are going hungry so we have a big job on our hands but with the help of people who love The Beatles and what John Lennon stood for we can stop that.

“Our solution is to provide fresh food to everyone who is hungry.

"We will now be retailing a special chocolate brownie that will be sold in the Beatles Story's shops, cafés and through the other Beatles partners in Liverpool.

“For every brownie sold, we will make a donation towards a meal for someone suffering from food poverty.

“Making John Lennon’s birthday cake was a labour of love. It was for a good cause and one I hope John would have been proud to be a part of.”

Find out more about the 'Imagine No Food Poverty' campaign here and make sure to purchase your own chocolate brownies from a Fab4 Store, Fab4 Cafe or other Liverpool based vendors now.