Lennon was greatly inspired by Durness, where he holidayed as a child.

He returned with wife Yoko Ono, son Julian and Yoko’s daughter Kyoko in 1969.

The 1,100 tickets for the September 28-30 festival go on sale today.

Artists include Master of the Queen’s Music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who will present a world premiere of a Beatles Prom with the Royal Academy of Music.

Chart toppers Nizlopi, who had the No 1 hit The JCB Song, will perform, and painter Peter Howson will stage a Lennon exhibition.

Poets John Cooper Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy and Michael Horovitz are also taking part.

A dance event in Britain’s biggest sea cave, and a mobile cinema screening Beatles films are among the other highlights.

John Lennon’s half-sister, Julia Baird, and his cousin Stan Parkes will speak about their famous relative at the festival.

Ms Baird said: "I am delighted to be involved in what is a high quality event which has taste and respect at its core."

Tickets can be purchased from www.northhighlandsscotland.com/festival.

Lennon’s piano displayed at JFK site - Nov 24 2006
The piano on which John Lennon wrote Imagine was displayed at the site where John F Kennedy was gunned down on the 43rd anniversary of the American President’s assassination.

The instrument, which is owned by pop star George Michael, was photographed at the famous "grassy knoll" in Dealey Plaza, Dallas.

It was flown to the US to be the centrepiece of an anti-war exhibition opening next month at a gallery in the city owned by Michael’s partner Kenny Goss.

At 12.30pm yesterday, the time that President Kennedy was shot as his motorcade swept past in Elm Street, it was briefly unveiled in front of around 300 people at the site to mark the anniversary.

George and Kenny plan to have the piano photographed at other significant sites to help spread their pro-peace message.

Barbara Buzzell, spokeswoman for the Goss Gallery, said: "It was about the juxtaposition of the violence of Kennedy’s assassination and the peace message of the song Imagine, which was written on the piano.

"It was amazing, there were hundreds of people surrounding it.

"Everyone understood the message."

The instrument had never left Britain before.

George bought the plain-looking piano for £1.67m at an auction in 2000.

Was it you? - 25/02/03
Were you the lucky bidder that snapped up a rare musical collaboration between John Lennon and Mick Jagger for only £1,400?

The unlabelled acetate recording was made over 25 years ago, and was buried at the bottom of a box of records bought by Tom Fisher, who runs Rat Records in Camberwell, London. It cost him £20 to buy this box of goodies four years ago.

Mr Fisher celebrated his night’s earnings by saying ’It’s a pretty healthy mark-up, I can’t really complain’.

The track, a cover of the blues song Too Many Cooks, was recorded with Jagger on vocals, Lennon on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums in 1974, but was never released. The master copies have never emerged and are thought to have been lost.

A new Lennon dance hit! - 17/02/03
For all the people that were wondering if we would ever hear John Lennon’s voice again - I bet you weren’t expecting a dance floor smash.