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“It’s cooler to hang Lennon’s guitar than a Picasso”: pop culture wins out at auctions
Level 1: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
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Warmer
a. Match the items sold at auction with the amounts people paid for them.
1. Kurt Cobain’s guitar a. $48 million
2. Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi painting b. $71 million
3. a 1960 Ferrari 250 GTO c. $6 million
4. an 1856 British Guiana postage stamp d. $450 million
5. the Pink Star diamond e. $10 million
Key words
a. Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.
auction belongings cardigan celebrity cooler item
1. An / A is when you sell things to the people who offer the most
money for them at a public event.
2. An / A is an individual thing, usually one of several things in a
group or on a list.
3. An / A is a woollen jacket with buttons or a zip.
4. If something is than something else, it is more fashionable
or more attractive.
5. Your are the things that you own.
6. An / A is a famous person.
estimate Grammy legacy lyrics outfit persuade
7. If you someone, you make them agree to do something
by giving them reasons why they should do it.
8. An / A is a set of clothes that you wear together.
9. An / A is an amount you guess or calculate using information
you have.

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10. An / A is an award given out each year in the United States
to the best writers and performers in music.
11. are the words of a song.
12. A person’s is something that they have done that continues
to exist after they retire or die.

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Priya Elan
26 May, 2021
Julien’s Auctions, an auction house in
California, began in 2003. It was the first
auction house to sell only pop-culture items.
Its first auctions included the dress in which
Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to
President John F. Kennedy (its final price was
$4.8 million in 2016) and the cardigan Kurt
Cobain wore for Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged
performance (its final price was $334,000).
“A collector recently told me: ‘It’s cooler to hang
John Lennon’s guitar on my wall than a Monet
or Picasso,’” says Darren Julien, the owner of
Julien’s. “After we sold Kurt Cobain’s guitar for
over $6 million last year, buyers wanted the
cardigan,” says Julien.”
There has also been an increase in auctions
of items that celebrities still own, and not just
property from fan collections. So items at
auction may belong to celebrities who are still
alive and performing. “I remember, when I was
trying to persuade Cher to do the auction nearly
15 years ago, she said: ‘But I’m not dead,’”
says Julien.
“Those auctions showed celebrities and this
market that you don’t have to be dead to have
a successful auction of your belongings,” he
says. “We’ve noticed that items are still selling
for lots of money, even though the celebrity is
still alive.”
“Janet Jackson was one of the most difficult
people to persuade to have an auction because
she’s such a private person,” he says. “Even
Janet was surprised at the results, and she
really enjoyed creating an amazing video for
her fans and surprising the fans on the day
of her birthday, coming on the screens in the
auction room to thank them for attending.”
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In January, Julien’s auctioned seven outfits
from K-pop boyband BTS. The costumes
from their 2020 video for “Dynamite” sold
for $162,500, much more than the $40,000
estimate. Does Julien think selling items by
new pop-culture figures is the future trend?
“Yes, especially if it’s a band or someone
popular like BTS,” he says. “If BTS perform
a music video in outfits that are worth
$2,000 and then the song is nominated for a
Grammy, you just increased the value of those
outfits 81 times.”
In June, 2021, they will sell handwritten lyrics
by Bob Dylan, a handwritten letter by Britney
Spears that she sent to a school boyfriend,
and a self portrait by Cobain. “These lifestyle
auctions are a way for celebrities to do
something that helps build their legacy,”
Julien says.
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 26/05/2021
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3 Comprehension check
a. Answer the questions using information from the article.
1. When did Julien’s Auctions begin?
2. How much did someone pay for Marilyn Monroe’s dress?
3. Who was she singing to when she wore that dress?
4. How much did the auction house get for Kurt Cobain’s guitar?
5. Which was more expensive, Kurt Cobain’s cardigan or his guitar?
6. When did Cher have an auction?
7. Why was it difficult to persuade Janet Jackson to have an auction?
8. When did K-pop boyband BTS make a video for “Dynamite”?
9. How much did their costumes sell for?
10. How much were their costumes really worth?
Key language
a. Match the words in the left-hand column with the words in the right-hand column to make
phrases from the text.
1. pop a. video
2. auction b. person
3. self c. house
4. future d. portrait
5. music e. trend
6. private f. culture
Discussion
a. Discuss these statements.
• “Pop stars are more famous than classical painters.”
• “It’s crazy to pay a fortune for a cardigan.”

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In your own words
a. The text describes some of the items belonging to famous people that an American auction
house has sold. Imagine that you have just spent a lot of money on a famous item of pop
culture. What did you buy?

Write a short text (100 words) describing the item. Answer some or all of the
following questions.
• What did you buy?
• Who did it belong to?
• Where did you buy it?
• How much did you pay for it?
• What will you do with it?

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Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
1. Warmer
a. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the
concept of auctions and the kind of items that are
sold at them. It also focuses on the types of things
that people are willing to spend large amounts of
money on. Ask students to match the items with the
amounts of money that people paid for them. When
you check the answers, ask if they are surprised by
any of the amounts (e.g. the amount paid for a small
piece of paper, the postage stamp).
Key:
1. c
2. d
3. a
4. e
5. b
2. Key words
a. Ask students to do the exercise individually and
then compare their answers in pairs or small groups.
Point out that a celebrity is normally someone in
entertainment or sport, not a public figure such as
a politician. The word ‘cool’ can also be used to
mean ‘good’ and some people also use it to mean
‘OK’, if they agree to something. In the text, it means
‘fashionable’ or ‘trendy’.
Article summary: The article describes how
items belonging to pop stars are becoming
popular at auctions.
Time: 60 minutes
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language focus: Vocabulary
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student
Key:
1. auction
2. item
3. cardigan
4. cooler
5. belongings
6. celebrity
7. persuade
8. outfit
9. estimate
10. Grammy
11. lyrics
12. legacy
3. Comprehension check
a. The corrections given are only suggested answers
and students may correctly answer the questions in
different ways, e.g. number 5, could be “His guitar
was more expensive than his cardigan.”
Key:
1. 2003
2. $4.8 million
3. President John F. Kennedy
4. over $6 million
5. his guitar
6. nearly 15 years ago
7. because she is a very private person
8. in 2020
9. $162,500
10. $2,000
4. Key language
a. Students could be asked to do this exercise
individually and then compare their answers
in pairs. If necessary, they can also check their
answers by looking in the text.
Key:
1. f
2. c
3. d
4. e
5. a
6. b
Level 1: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate – Teacher’s notes

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Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
Level 1: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
5. Discussion
a. Allow students time to note down their ideas about
each statement and encourage them to say why they
agree or disagree with each one.
6. In your own words
a. Point out that students could include the answers
to the questions in their piece of writing and they
can also include other information. For example,
they could describe the item they bought rather than
simply saying what it was.

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