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The older instrument, referred to as “the Cavern bass” by Beatles historians, has never been recovered. The notion that it’s in Ottawa seems as out-there as the Paul-is-dead hoax started by U.S. college students half-a-century ago.

Yet in the book, Norman relates how new information about the Cavern bass came to him from a trusted source — a Liverpool taxi driver named Peter Hodgson.

Hodgson, whose father and uncle lived near the McCartney family in Liverpool, has been trying to track down the Cavern bass for years, Norman writes.

“Recently, he’s e-mailed me that he may have located it in Ottawa, in the possession of someone who was not the thief. This personage, with a Tolkien-esque flourish, calls himself ‘The Keeper,’ suggesting the guardian of some sacred relic, rather than a possessor of stolen goods who expects someday to return it to its rightful owner.”

Norman goes on that McCartney “has always paid big money for mementoes of his early career — which often belonged to him in the first place — and for one as iconic as this, the sum involved would clearly be astronomical.”

Hodgson is not looking for money from McCartney, he writes. “Hodgson seeks no monetary gain, just the joy of seeing the Cavern bass in action again …”

Norman passed on “The Keeper” tip to McCartney when the two met face-to-face in late May 2015 at a McCartney concert in Liverpool. It was the only time he spoke directly to Paul while writing the book over two-and-a-half years.