A handwritten poem apparently by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis for a primary school project has been sold for £1,100 at auction.
An unnamed seller said Curtis wrote An Epitaph for an Electrian [sic] sometime between 1966 and 1967 when they were both pupils at Hurdsfield Junior School, in Macclesfield.
It reads: “Here lies Fred the electrian (sic), who went on a very fateful mission, he got a shock when tampering with a fuse, which went from his head right down to his shoes, by I. Curtis.”
The poem, written on a piece of lined paper, also features a small picture of a man and a tombstone. It was glued into a school book called ‘Our Book Of Epitaphs’ along with verses from the other pupils in the class.
The seller said he was presented with the book because he was head boy.
The poem was sold at an auction at London’s Le Meridien Hotel by Tracksauction.com.
Curtis, born in Stretford in 1956, went on to study at King’s School, Macclesfield, before forming Joy Division with Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris in 1976.
He committed suicide at his home on Barton Street, Macclesfield, in 1980.
