My version is different again: John Lennon was furious with Ewan McColl for appropriating the love of the working class using the medium of folk-ish music and had asked for a set of pipes so he could re-take the ground. Unfortunately, when they arrived, Lennon didn't have a clue what to do with them and sent them to McPeake as a gift. McPeake sent him back a song he'd written, Working Class Hero, and gifted the authorship to Lennon in exchange. The rest is history.