Radiohead sketchbook sells for £5,000 after auction

The pad contains the lyrics for Street Spirit (Fade Out) which Radiohead released in 1995

A sketchbook containing draft lyrics and drawings by rock band Radiohead has sold for £5,000 after an auction.

The A2 pad was used by the group as they rehearsed their iconic album The Bends in an Oxfordshire barn in 1994.

It includes handwritten lyrics for hit song Street Spirit (Fade Out) as well as chords and other musical workings.

The seller, who wants to remain anonymous, had been tasked with clearing out the barn and was told he could keep anything left behind.

The highest bid of £5,000 failed to reach the reserve for the pad, which had a top estimate of £12,000, but was accepted by the seller following the auction's conclusion. The total price equates to £6,400 when including the buyer's premium.

Radiohead went on to achieve global success with releases including OK Computer

Omega Auctions described the pad as "an incredible piece of memorabilia linked to Radiohead's early recording history".

Workings for two unknown songs - Too Easy and Idiot Boy - are contained in its eight pages.

It also includes lyrics for some of the band's classic songs and notes for an unreleased track called Dead Bank Clerk.

The man who sold the sketchbook said he had lent the band a sound system and instruments for their rehearsals at a fruit farm in January 1994.

Prior to the auction, he said: "When the sessions were over I went to retrieve my equipment and clear out the room.

"The A2 sketchpad had been left with some carpeting that had been used as acoustic treatment.

"I was informed that anything remaining in the room was not required by the band and should be thrown away or kept by me if I so wished. I kept the sketch pad and discarded the carpeting."

A Radiohead cassette demo with three previously unheard tracks was sold in January

A 1960 Fender Precision bass guitar used by Colin Greenwood to record Fake Plastic Trees was also sold at the auction after a bid of £6,000.

The latest sale of memorabilia comes after a demo tape containing previously unheard Radiohead tracks was auctioned in January and also sold for £6,000.

Fronted by Thom Yorke, the five members of the band met at school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and initially formed On A Friday, before going on to achieve global success as Radiohead.