Eight Days a Week

Where were you during that memorable week in June 1964 when the Beatles toured New Zealand for the first - and only - time? If you were a teenager, you might have been amongst the thousands of young Kiwis defying your parents' or teachers' wishes and devising ingenious ways of getting to see your idols. Beatles aficionado, Graham Hutchins was amongst them. He was a teenager during the early sixties. He went to the Beatles' Auckland concert - an experience he has never forgotten - collected their records and formed a would-be Beatles band. Now, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Beatles visit to this country, he has written a book, Eight Days A Week: The Beatles Tour of New Zealand 1964. Hutchins felt that this tour, momentous in its day, needed to be honoured as one of those special events in New Zealand's history that could never happen again in quite the same way. The Beatles were at the height of their 'powers' in 1964. This was the year they took to the road, touring beyond Britain and Europe for the first time. And, for eight frenetic days of that tour, from 21 to 28 June, they turned this otherwise conservative country on its ear.Eight Days A Week is the first full account of this memorable visit. Hutchins interviewed dozens of people who were directly affected by the visit, from fans who attended the concerts and people who accompanied the Beatles on tour, to contemporary musicians and even John Lennon's Kiwi relations. From the 7000 fans who greeted the TEAL Electra carrying the band as it touched down at Wellington airport - casual onlookers reckoned the screaming obliterated the sound of the turbo-prop airliner - to Mayor Robbie's civic reception that almost turned riotous in Auckland, the hysteria in Dunedin and more screaming mobs as the band left the country on 28 June after playing their final concert in Christchurch many of the stories are re-told in this book. He includes all the media, the headlines and the hype, not to mention the merchandising and styles - those haircuts and winklepickers - that surfaced during the tour. The result is a nostalgic souvenir of a great band's visit to this country and a fascinating glimpse of life in New Zealand - a country on the eve of enormous social and political change - 'forty years ago today.'[front flap]; For a memorable week in June 1964, the Beatles toured New Zealand, giving concerts in the four main centres and changing life as we knew it for ever. For teenagers of the time, it was the most exciting week of their lives. Teachers were ignored and parents defied as thousands of young people devised ingenious ways of seeing their idols. For this book Graham Hutchins has interviewed dozens of people who were directly affected by the visit, from fans who attended the concerts and people who accompanied the Beatles on tour, to contemporary musicians and John Lennon's Kiwi relations. The visit of the Fab Four is remembered through the reminiscences of these eyewitnesses, and through a mass of photographs and memorabilia that illustrate the text. The author also assesses the long-term impact the Beatles made on New Zealand music and on society at large. Full of memories and nostalgia, this is the ideal souvenir of one of the most remarkable weeks in New Zealand's history. Author: As a teenager in 1964, Graham Hutchins became a huge fan of the Beatles and collected all their records as they were released.He attended the Beatles' concert in Auckland, an experience he has never forgotten, and formed a would-be Beatles band with some schoolmates, a group that still performs together on special occasions. In the years since, Graham has written many books, including Tall Halfbacks and the whimsical Hello, Goodbye, which cover his own youthful endeavours in music, and his most recent book, Both Sides Now. Among his other published works are several on rugby, cricket and railways. He lives in South Waikato with his wife Jenny.