Local choirs, school groups and lunching office workers have joined in to deliver a record-breaking rendition of The Beatles' Love Me Do in Liverpool.

According to the Guinness World Records the singers broke the previous record for singing "in the round" - where two groups sing exactly the same melody, beginning at different times - to break the previous record of 897.

"The demographics here today are interesting - it goes from people in their 70s to school kids," said Dave Jones, who runs Liverpool's famous Cavern Club, where the Beatles were the house band between 1961 and 1963 and which is staging a weekend-long extravaganza of their music.

"We're trying to recreate the atmosphere of those glory days in the 60s. It's generation after generation enjoying the music."

The 50th birthday of Love Me Do is also the anniversary of a lucky break for the band.

Auction house Sotheby's is marking the anniversary by selling the original collage used for the insert of the 1967 Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sotheby's expects it to sell for £50,000-80,000.