Many good books have been written about the Beatles: in fact, the general standard is much higher in terms of style and honesty than those dealing with my last subject, the royal family. For a microscopic account of their early lives, The Beatles: All These Years – Tune In Special Extended Edition Volumes 1 and 2 by Mark Lewisohn is indispensable. I have also relied on The Beatles by Hunter Davies; Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner; The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz; Shout!: The True Story of the Beatles by Philip Norman; Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America by Jonathan Gould; The Beatles Anthology by the Beatles; The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn; The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962–1970 by Mark Lewisohn; The Beatles Diary: An Intimate Day by Day History by Barry Miles; Love Me Do: The Beatles’ Progress by Michael Braun; The Beatles Off the Record by Keith Badman; The Beatles: Paperback Writer – Forty Years of Classic Writing edited by Mike Evans; The Beatles in Their Own Words compiled by Barry Miles; The Beatles: A Day in the Life compiled by Tom Schultheiss; Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles’ 1964 and 1965 Tours that Changed the World by Larry Kane; The Rough Guide to the Beatles by Chris Ingham; The Beatles Encyclopaedia by Bill Harry; and the ever-thrilling Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties by Ian MacDonald.
Particularly useful have been two works dealing with more specialist aspects of the Beatles: You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle for the Soul of the Beatles by Peter Doggett, a wonderfully clear survey of their complicated finances; and Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs by Joe Goodden, an equally clear survey of their equally complicated drug lives. Other specialist books include: The Beatles and the Historians by Erin Torkelson Weber; The Beatles on the Roof by Tony Barrell; The Beatles Lyrics: The Unseen Story Behind Their Music by Hunter Davies; The Walrus Was Ringo: 101 Beatles Myths Debunked by Alan Clayson and Spencer Leigh; How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: The Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution by Leslie Woodhead; The Beatles Are Here! by Penelope Rowlands; The Beatles Sent to Coventry by Pete Chambers; Dear Beatles compiled by Bill Adler; Dreaming the Beatles by Rob Sheffield; The Greatest Beatles Stories Ever Told edited by Luis Miguel; Beatles Hamburg: A Tour Guide to Beatles Sites in Hamburg by Mark A. Schneegurt; The Beatles in India by Paul Saltzman; The Beatles’ Gear: All the Fab Four’s Instruments, from Stage to Studio by Andy Babiuk; A Day in the Life of the Beatles by Don McCullin; Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles’ Let It Be Disaster by Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt; John, Paul & Me Before the Beatles: The True Story of the Very Early Days by Len Garry; The Quarrymen by Hunter Davies; The Beatles in Hamburg by Ian Inglis; The Beatles’ Liverpool by Ron Jones; Plastic Macca: The Secret Death and Replacement of Beatle Paul McCartney by Tina Foster; and Beatlemania! The Real Story of the Beatles’ UK Tours 1963–1965 by Martin Creasy.
Many books by and about individual members of the Beatles have come in very useful, among them Paul McCartney: The Biography by Philip Norman; Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles; Paul McCartney by Alan Clayson; Conversations With McCartney by Paul du Noyer; Sixties: Portrait of an Era by Linda McCartney; George Harrison by Alan Clayson; I Me Mine by George Harrison; Ringo Starr by Alan Clayson; Lennon and McCartney by Malcolm Doney; Being John Lennon: A Restless Life by Ray Connolly; John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman; John Lennon by Alan Clayson; John Lennon in His Own Words compiled by Barry Miles; The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman; John Lennon: One Day at a Time by Anthony Fawcett; Memories of John Lennon introduced and edited by Yoko Ono; The Penguin John Lennon; and The John Lennon Letters edited and with an introduction by Hunter Davies.
Works by family members include Cynthia Lennon’s two interesting if sometimes contradictory biographies of John: A Twist of Lennon (1978) and John (2005); Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon by Julia Baird; Thank U Very Much: Mike McCartney’s Family Album; George Harrison: Living in the Material World by Olivia Harrison; Wonderful Today by Pattie Boyd with Penny Junor; and Daddy Come Home: The True Story of John Lennon and his Father by Pauline Lennon.
Virtually everyone who ever worked in any capacity for the Beatles seems to have put pen to paper, or to have had others put pen to paper on their behalf. Many of these books are full of fascinating bits and pieces, among them my favourite, The Beatles, Lennon and Me by Pete Shotton and Nicholas Schaffner; but also As Time Goes By by Derek Taylor; The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines; All You Need is Ears by George Martin with Jeremy Hornsby; Magical Mystery Tours: My Life With the Beatles by Tony Bramwell with Rosemary Kingsland; With the Beatles by Alistair Taylor; The Man Who Gave the Beatles Away by Alan Williams and William Marshall; The Cutting Edge: The Story of the Beatles’ Hairdresser Who Defined an Era by Leslie Cavendish; The Longest Cocktail Party by Richard DiLello; Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey; and John Paul George Ringo and Me by Tony Barrow. Particular mentions should be made of Beatle!: The Pete Best Story by Pete Best and Patrick Doncaster, and a biography of the ill-fated Jimmie Nicol, The Beatle Who Vanished by Jim Berkenstadt.
I particularly enjoyed two fine biographies of the troubled, enigmatic figure of Brian Epstein: In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story by Debbie Geller, edited by Anthony Wall; and Brian Epstein: The Man Who Made the Beatles by Ray Coleman.
Part of the fun of writing a book about the Beatles lies in the extraordinary number of colourful characters who surrounded them. Biographies and memoirs of these figures include: Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector by Mick Brown; Miss O’Dell by Chris O’Dell with Katherine Ketcham; I’m With the Band by Pamela Des Barres; Walking Back to Happiness by Helen Shapiro; I Read the News Today, Oh Boy by Paul Howard; Groovy Bob: The Life and Times of Robert Fraser by Harriet Vyner; Allen Klein by Fred Goodman; The Day Elvis Met Nixon by Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh; Victor Spinetti Up Front by Victor Spinetti; King of Clubs by Peter Stringfellow; Freddie Starr Unwrapped by Freddie Starr; Christine Keeler: The Truth at Last by Christine Keeler and Douglas Thompson; Me by Elton John; The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan; Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts and Madness by Ronnie Spector with Vince Waldron; King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero by David Remnick; Can You Tell What it is Yet?: My Autobiography by Rolf Harris; I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir by Brian Wilson with Ben Greenman; Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys by Brian Wilson; An Affectionate Punch by Justin de Villeneuve; House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row by Lance Richardson; East End, West End: An Autobiography by Bernard Delfont; Faithfull by Marianne Faithfull; Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Marianne Faithfull; What’s it All About? by Cilla Black; Eric Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton with Christopher Simon Sykes; Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood by Eric Burdon with J. Marshall Craig; Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick; Elvis Meets the Beatles by Chris Hutchins and Peter Thompson; Sinatra: The Life by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan; Frank: The Making of a Legend by James Kaplan; My Father’s Daughter: A Memoir by Tina Sinatra and Jeff Coplon; Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String by Michael Crawford; Tom Jones: A Biography by Stafford Hildren and David Gritten; Redeeming Features: A Memoir by Nicholas Haslam; Long Drawn Out Trip: A Memoir by Gerald Scarfe; Wild Tales by Graham Nash; Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson; The Harder Path by John Birt; Grapefruit by Yoko Ono; Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan; Mick and Keith by Chris Salewicz; The Stones by Philip Norman; Life by Keith Richards; Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham; Brian Jones by Laura Jackson; Sympathy for the Devil by Paul Trynka; Up Against It: A Screenplay for the Beatles by Joe Orton; The Orton Diaries edited by John Lahr; and Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton by John Lahr. Rereading, and re-rereading, The Pillowbook of Eleanor Bron has been a particular delight.
Other works from which I have drawn include: Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould by Kevin Bazzana; The Odd Thing About the Colonel and Other Pieces by Colin Welch; The Virgin’s Baby: The Battle of the Ampthill Succession by Bevis Hillier; A King’s Story by The Duke of Windsor; The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves by Andrew Lownie; Shirley Temple: American Princess by Anne Edwards; R.V.W.: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Ursula Vaughan Williams; Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen; Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello; This Boy by Alan Johnson; My Life, Our Times by Gordon Brown; Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman by Jack Jones; Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn; My Life With Charles Manson by Paul Watkins; It Could Have Been Yours by Jolyon Fenwick and Marcus Husselby; The People’s Music by Ian MacDonald; Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth; Revolt Into Style: The Pop Arts in Britain by George Melly; The People’s Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in Fifty Songs by Stuart Maconie; Stardust Memories: Talking About My Generation by Ray Connolly; Hunting People: Thirty Years of Interviews With the Famous by Hunter Davies; and Who the Hell …? by the remarkable Tom Hibbert. The first book I ever read about pop remains one of the best, even though its author is not a wholehearted fan of the Beatles: Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: Pop from the Beginning by Nik Cohn.
Diaries and letters are always my favourite sources. I greatly enjoyed plundering: Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica edited by Anthony Thwaite; The Letters of Kingsley Amis edited by Zachary Leader; The Letters of Noël Coward edited by Barry Day; The Noël Coward Diaries edited by Graham Payn and Sheridan Morley; The Kenneth Williams Letters edited by Russell Davies; The Kenneth Williams Diaries edited by Russell Davies; Like it Was: The Diaries of Malcolm Muggeridge; Rub Out the Words: The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1959–1974 edited by Bill Morgan; The Kenneth Tynan Letters edited by Kathleen Tynan; The Kenneth Tynan Diaries edited by John Lahr; Out of the Wilderness: Diaries 1963–67 by Tony Benn; The Castle Diaries 1964–1976 by Barbara Castle; and The Macmillan Diaries Vol. II edited by Peter Catterall. Also: All What Jazz by Philip Larkin; Philip Larkin: Collected Poems; and Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life by Andrew Motion.
Books I have raided for intriguing information about other movements, personalities and events in the sixties include: Modernity Britain: Opening the Box, 1957–59 by David Kynaston; Modernity Britain: A Shake of the Dice, 1959–62 by David Kynaston; The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class 1910–2010 by Selina Todd; Never Had it So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles by Dominic Sandbrook; White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties by Dominic Sandbrook; The Great British Dream Factory: The Strange History of Our National Imagination by Dominic Sandbrook; The Sixties by Francis Wheen; 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded by Jon Savage; 1963: Five Hundred Days by John Lawton; Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II by A.N. Wilson; The Bad Trip: Dark Omens, New Worlds and the End of the Sixties by James Riley; The Neophiliacs by Christopher Booker; and The White Album by Joan Didion. For the chapter comparing the Christmas messages of the Beatles and the Queen, Voices Out of the Air: The Royal Christmas Broadcasts 1932–1981 was invaluable.
Random works mentioned in One Two Three Four include: Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll; Aspects of Alice: Lewis Carroll’s Dreamchild as Seen Through the Critics’ Looking-Glasses edited by Robert Phillips; The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren by Iona and Peter Opie; the Just William books by Richmal Crompton; She by H. Rider Haggard; A Word Child by Iris Murdoch; Iris Murdoch as I Knew Her by A.N. Wilson; 1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman; The Goon Show Scripts by Spike Milligan; Enderby Outside by Anthony Burgess; 20th Century Words by John Ayto; Dylan’s Visions of Sin by Christopher Ricks; and the lovely A Complete Book of Aunts by Rupert Christiansen.
The world of pop music continues to amass a library of reference books that now seem to be outpacing those about religion or politics. I have spent many enjoyable hours consulting: The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles; The Sound and the Fury: Forty Years of Classic Rock Journalism edited by Barney Hoskyns; The Rolling Stone Encyclopaedia of Rock & Roll edited by Jon Pareles and Patricia Romanowski; The Rolling Stone Interviews 1967–1980; The Book of Rock Lists by Dave Marsh and Kevin Stein; Time Out Interviews, 1968–1998 edited by Frank Boughton; Teenage Idols by Frank Clews; The Faber Companion to Twentieth-Century Music by Phil Hardy and Dave Laing; Whatever Happened to …? by Bill Harry; The Faber Book of Pop edited by Hanif Kureishi and Jon Savage; and The Best of Rolling Stone edited by Robert Love.
Online reference works are equally valuable, perhaps more so, as they are so up-to-date. Billboard.com offers an omniscient view of the American charts; rocksbackpages.com gives access to the best music papers; and The Beatles Bible strikes me as the single best source of information on all aspects of the Beatles: often, after I had patted myself on the back for discovering some particularly arcane fact, I found to my irritation that it had been in The Beatles Bible all along. My book has also benefited from research in the archives of the New York Times; Los Angeles Times; New Yorker; British Medical Journal; the Margaret Thatcher Foundation; The Listener; Private Eye; Desert Island Discs; Daily Telegraph obituaries; Daily Mirror; Liverpool Echo; Saturday Evening Post; National Review; Seattle Times; GQ; Life; New Statesman; Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk; rollingstone.com; Omega Auctions; Queen; Independent obituaries; thisamericanlife.org; and beatlesinterviews.org.
I have spent many hundreds of hours on YouTube, watching old interviews, videos, press conferences, news footage and documentaries, such as 24 Hours: The World of John and Yoko from the BBC, and A Boy Called Donovan. My chapter on the rooftop concert was greatly helped by a BBC Radio 4 documentary, The Beatles’ Final Concert. Finally, a word of thanks to virtually everyone to whom I have spoken over the past year or two: rare is the person who does not have a favourite Beatle, or a favourite Beatles album, or an anecdote about meeting one Beatle or another, or strong opinions on the Maharishi, or the Rolling Stones, or the sixties in general.