For decades it has lain unloved and largely forgotten in a royal vault, the symbol of one of the final acts of Sixties rebellion. Almost 40 years after John Lennon returned his MBE to the Queen, the insignia has finally been rediscovered.

Beatles fans had assumed the metal cross had been melted down or recycled after Lennon returned it in protest at the Vietnam War, and yesterday they called for it to be dusted off and placed on public display.

The MBE is at the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, in St James’s Palace, where it was carefully stored on the day of its return. It is still in the original presentation case and sits alongside the singer’s protest letter to the Queen...