London, Mar 5: New photographs of ‘The Beatles’ and ‘The Rolling Stones’, which were clicked during the 1960s, have been discovered.

One of the pictures shows late Beatles member John Lennon taking a backstage cigarette break.

There is also one photograph showing Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards cutting Charlie Watts'' hair, and one featuring Mick Jagger relaxing in front of the TV.

The photos, which have never been seen before, were clicked while the two bands toured America during the 1960s.

The pictures were found inside a duffel bag after 45 years.

The shots show the behind-the-scenes, intimate and unguarded moments of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and they had been shot by their former tour manager Bob Bonis.

The collection of more than 50 pictures, being revealed to the public for the first time, are part of 3,500 pictures taken by Bonis, the US tour manager who helped organise the so-called British invasion of America in the Swinging Sixties.

The photographs, which also include poolside shots of the two bands drinking and relaxing, as well as “goofing” around in hotel rooms, were found by Bonis''s son Alex stored in an old duffel bag.

Not Fade Away Gallery will premiere the exhibition, titled ‘The British Are Coming: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones 1964 – 66’, in New York.

Larry Marion, Gallery director, said that the frames captured a pivotal time in the two bands’ careers; their first tours of America from 1964 to 1966.

“In more than 20 years as a rock archaeologist I''ve never come upon a discovery of this magnitude,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“I’ve shown the photos to Ringo, who loved them. Keith [Richards] is going to come see the show,” he said.

Bonis, who died in 1991, had never meant to make the pictures public, and thus kept the negatives and slides private until his son decided to show the world. (ANI)