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.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said that any decision on the insignia’s future was likely to rest with Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.

Times Archive, 1969: John Lennon returns his MBE

I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts

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The appointment of the Fab Four as MBEs in the 1965 Birthday Honours led to several people returning their own MBEs, complaining that they felt the honour had been demeaned.

Lennon decided that he had sold out to the Establishment by accepting the honour and sent it back to the Queen in November 1969 as part of a peace protest. He had his chauffeur, Les Anthony, deliver the insignia to Buckingham Palace and sent identical letters to the Queen, the Prime Minister and the secretary of the Central Chancery, explaining his action.

He wrote: “Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.” He signed himself: “With Love, John Lennon.”

Lennon said that he had not wanted the MBE in the first place but Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, had persuaded him to accept it.

A palace spokesman said yesterday: “John Lennon’s MBE is being taken good care of and is in storage at the Central Chancery. It has been retained since the day Mr Lennon returned it, but in order to decide whether the medal could go on display in a museum, we would have to establish ownership first. It could be up to Yoko Ono as she is the custodian of John Lennon’s estate.”

Gene Grimes, founder of the Liverpool Beatles Appreciation Society, said that the insignia “should not be left to gather dust in a drawer”.

He said: “We thought John’s MBE must have been melted down or put in a new box and recycled. John’s decision to return the MBE should be respected, but I also believe that showing it to the public would be appropriate, since it would raise aware-ness of John’s campaign for peace.”

Not such an honour

A leaked government document in 2003 divulged the names of 300 people who had rejected honours in the past 60 years. They included:

— The writer J. G. Ballard and the singer David Bowie, who returned CBEs; the comedian Dawn French and the actor Jim Broadbent, who returned OBEs; the actor Albert Finney, who refused a knighthood; and the artist L. S. Lowry, who turned down five honours, including a knighthood, a CBE and an OBE

— Benjamin Zephaniah, the black poet, publicly rejected his honour in 2003, saying that the title of the Order of the British Empire gave an impression of white supremacy

— Joseph Corre, the co-founder of the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, decided not to accept his MBE only days after being named in the 2007 Birthday Honours. His reason was that he thought Tony Blair, then the Prime Minister, was “morally corrupt”

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