Beatle John Lennon has been nominated Clown of The Year by the mass-circulation Daily Mirror.

Donald Zee, the paper’s most popular columnist, said: “It is not what goes on in the mind, rather what comes out of the mouth that sets Mr. Lennon apart from his fellow human beings.

“And out of that particular mouth this year has emerged the most sustained twaddle and tosh since Zsa Zsa Gabor gave way to Cassius Clay.”