Beatles Books

My very special guest for this episode is Elliot Mintz who first encountered John and Yoko in his role as a late night radio host in 1971.

a strong bond between the three of them soon formed after these interviews, and soon Elliot became an almost daily part of their lives. His book tells the story of this friendship, From the breakup of The Beatles to the birth of John and Yoko’s son Sean, to John’s death and beyond, Elliot was there through it all, either to witness it or as a friendly voice at the end of the phone.

I'm joined for this bonus, mini episode by Yvonne Innes to discuss her biography of her husband, Neil Innes.

In my view, Neil was one of the largest contributors to British culture of the last 50 years, and is beloved to all Beatle fans as co creator of The Rutles. Yvonne's book is full of humour and love and tells her husband's remarkable life story with all the insight you'd expect.

I'm joined by JR Moores today to discuss his book 'Off The Ground'. JR takes a detailed look at Paul in the 90's and suggests that apart from the 60's, it turned out to be the most influential decade of Paul's professional life. Studio albums, huge tours, classical pieces and ambient side projects, as ever McCartney packs more into 10 years than most artists do in a lifetime.

I'm welcoming David Hepworth back to the pod today, this time to talk about his book 'Hope I Get Old Before I Die - Why Rock Stars Never Retire'.

David's book begins at Live Aid, where Paul McCartney sings into a defective mic, and ends today where he and Ringo are more celebrated than ever. The book looks at how we got here- via knighthoods and Nobel prizes for rock's greatest generation.

My guest today is renowned music journalist and author Patrick Humphries who joins me to discuss his book 'With The Beatles'.

Patrick interviewed Paul, George and Ringo at various points during their solo careers, and uses this a basis to tell The Beatles story from beginning to end - with particular focus on how the Beatles legacy and impact grew after they went their separate ways. 

For this very special episode, my guest is former Apple employee Merle Frimark who joins me to discuss her time as an Apple employee between 1967 and 1970. On July 23rd 1969, Merle attended the recording session for 'Come Together', where she watched The Beatles at work and captured some amazing candid pictures.

The Guardian piece referenced in this episode can be found here - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/24/from-sorting-fan-mail-to-seeing-abbey-road-being-made-my-life-as-a-teenage-beatles-employee

My guest for this episode is Neil Fox,  a Professor of Film Practice and Pedagogy at Falmouth University, and co-host of the acclaimed film podcast, The Cinematologists. He's here to discuss his book, 'Music Films'. We focus our conversation, of course, on The Beatles movies - what makes Hard Day's Night great and Help less great? What influence did The Beatles films have on other music films of the 60's? And how did The Rutles inspire This Is Spinal Tap?

My guests for this episode are Greg Armstrong and Andy Neill who join me to discuss their book 'When We Was Fab - Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964'.

Greg and Andy tell the story of this tour in great detail - from it's conception to The Beatles frenzied arrival and look at the legacy that they left behind. 

My guest today is Tracy Daugherty who joins me to discuss his book 'We Shook Up Th World - The Spiritual Rebellion of Muhammad Ali and George Harrison'.

Ali met George in a Florida boxing ring in February 1964 - and ten years later as Ali was staging one of the great sporting comebacks George was struggling across America on his Dark Horse tour - Tracy's book looks at the journey these two men took over those 10 years and how 60's icons dealt with the changing world of the 70's.

My guest today is Debbie Gendler who is here to discuss her book 'I Saw The Standing There - Adventures of an Original Beatle Fan During Beatlemania and Beyond'.

Debbie fell for The Beatles in late 1963 and soon found herself in the audience for their first US TV appearance on Ed Sullivan. This led to a lifetime of devotion and many crazy adventures and Beatle encounters - she shares all these stories with me, including a less than satisfactory meeting with the lads themselves.