Uri Geller is "elated" to have bought John Lennon's glasses for £40,000

He told the BBC: "John Lennon and I were very good friends while we were living in New York in the 1970s.

"I knew I had to buy these glasses whatever. I would have gone up to £500,000. Glasses are a passage into our soul, into our psyche."

The spoon-bending mystic said he had enjoyed an "amazing connection" with the 'Imagine' hitmaker before his death in 1980.

He added: "John changed my life as that's where I learned about spirituality. He believed in UFOs and I believed in UFOs and he was fascinated by my alien collection. He gave me an alien egg."

Uri plans to display the glasses prominently in the John Lennon section of his museum in Tel Aviv alongside the alien egg.

Catherine Southon Auctioneers, who arranged the sale, explained the singer had given the glasses to their seller, known only as Michael, at Abbey Road Studios in 1968.

Michael and his girlfriend Penny were friends with a number of musicians and had been invited to the Beatles' recording studio as a birthday treat.

He recounted: "I picked up a pair of glasses from a piano. Penny said: 'Don't touch.'

"John Lennon turned around and said, 'He's all right. In fact, he can have them. Happy birthday!'

"They are not John Lennon's prescription glasses, but he gave them to me and wished me happy birthday, so that is good enough for me."

Michael also took 33 black and white photographs of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, the late George Harrison and their late producer George Martin when he visited the studios in 1968 and 1969, and they sold for £2,600.