A treasure trove of 5OO unpublished photographs of the Beatles has been discovered in the archives at Dundee University.

The pictures, which had gone unnoticed for nearly 30 years, capture the Fab Four at the height of their 60s fame.

They were found on Saturday - the 4Oth anniversary of the Beatles first single release, Love Me Do.

The city of Dundee is set to benefit from the discovery as thousands of Beatles fans are expected to go there in search of the previously unseen images of their heroes.

	:	The Beatles
Fab Four in focus

Scottish Culture Minister Mike Watson said he was delighted that visitor numbers to the city will now rise because of the find.

The photographs were taken by Hungarian photo journalist Michael Peto.

Many of the pictures capture John, Paul, George and Ringo, relaxing between takes during the shooting of their second feature film, Help.

University spokeswoman Carol Pope said the collection was uncovered during work to transfer the university's photographic archive on to a digital format.

'Fantastic discovery'

She said: "The negatives were gifted to the university in 1971 by Peto's stepson Michael Fodor, who was a student here.

"They came to light after the project to digitise the university's photographic archive began.

"Because the vast collection of Michael Peto negatives was so big, no one had an idea exactly what was in it until now.

"It really is a fantastic discovery after all these years. Although it is hard to say how many, most of the images will not have been published before."

Images from the collection will be used for a new course at the university in Fine Art Photography.

They will also go on display in exhibitions planned in Dundee and London over the coming months.