3 Author interview, June 21, 2007.
4 Author interview, February 16, 2007. Alan Walsh’s (unattributed) review ran in the Crosby Herald on October 20, 1961.
5 Beatle!, p120.
6 Davies, p104, and The Beatles Anthology, p20; Maureen O’Shea from author interview, May 13, 2010.
7 Author interview, May 13, 2010.
8 Mersey Beat, November 2, 1961. Wooler’s account of the Beatmakers episode is the only one written at the time and must be considered the most reliable, more so than the many anecdotes quoted after it attained legendary status. “Steamed” quote from interview by Spencer Leigh.
9 The Best of Fellas, p156.
10 Letter from George to Stu, November 17, 1961 (although, oddly, dated August 17). It also included an intriguing piece of information—“I’ve got a drum kit now, only cheap but O.K. for messing around on.” Nothing else is known about this.
11 Interview by Alan Smith, NME, August 16, 1963.
12 Interview by Spencer Leigh. Jimmy Campbell (1944–2007) became an acclaimed musician and composer—a member of the Panthers, the Kirkbys, 23rd Turnoff, Rockin’ Horse and a busy solo artist.
13 As the years passed, people began to doubt Raymond Jones’s existence, wondering if he’d been invented to effect Brian Epstein’s introduction to the Beatles’ world. In the 1990s, former Nems employee Alistair Taylor announced that the story had indeed been fabricated, by him, and that if anyone was Raymond Jones, he was. This came as some surprise to the real one, who made himself known to the writer and broadcaster Spencer Leigh (see The Beatles—Ten Years That Shook the World, by various writers; Dorling Kindersley, London, 2004, p21, and also http://www.beatles-bible.com/features/raymond-jones-interview/). Jones’s story—and Epstein’s—is verifiably correct. As Jones concludes, “People have told me that my name will go down in Beatles history. That may be true, but all I did was buy a record by a group that gave me so much pleasure and enjoyment.”
14 From the raw transcripts of interviews for his autobiography A Cellarful of Noise.
15 First part from Remember, p117; second from Thank U Very Much, p108. Jane Asher’s appearances on Juke Box Jury coincided with her transition from child actress to juvenile actress or ingénue (the phrases then in use)—she was now starting to handle more mature stage, TV and film roles.
16 Interview by Elliot Mintz, April 16, 1973.
17 Author interview, July 20, 2006.
18 Author interview, May 12, 2010.
19 Interview by Richard Williams, for The Times, December 16, 1981.
20 The Best of Fellas, p88. Wooler borrowed the nickname from the American singer Patti Page—it was as inappropriate for her as it was right for John.
21 Hambleton Hall ad, Liverpool Echo, November 11, 1961.
22 Interview by Johnny Beerling, January 13, 1972, for BBC Radio 1. In the light of other events, Wooler didn’t write the letter to Jack Good.
23 From the raw transcripts of interviews for his autobiography A Cellarful of Noise.
24 Brian Epstein said of the Cavern “It was a place that I’m sure I visited before”—Beatles Book magazine, issue 5 (December 1963).
25 Interview in The Beatles: The Days in Their Life, 1981 Canadian radio series.
26 Interview by Bill Grundy, March 7, 1964, for Frankly Speaking (BBC North of England Home Service, March 23, 1964).
27 Author interviews: Douglas, August 27, 2005; McFall, July 4, 2005.
28 First paragraph from The Mersey Sound, BBC-tv, October 9, 1963, except for final sentence, from the raw transcripts of interviews for A Cellarful of Noise; second paragraph from Bill Grundy interview.
29 The Best of Fellas, p181; “attracted to the Beatles physically,” p162. Brian falling instantly in love: Shout!, p127.
30 Interview by Gillian G. Gaar, Goldmine, November 8, 1996.
31 The Beatles Anthology, p65.
32 Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress, p46.
33 Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, June 12, 1979. When Hunter Davies visited John’s and Paul’s homes in spring 1967, to interview them for their biography, they still had the old Mersey Beat papers with the voting coupons cut out (Davies, p137). Bob Wooler’s November 25 Echo ad for Hambleton Hall heralded THE VOTE-CATCHING BEATLES.
34 Interview by Bill Grundy, March 7, 1964, for Frankly Speaking (BBC North of England Home Service, March 23, 1964).
35 The Best of Fellas, p156.
36 First part from interview by Larry Kane, August 1964; second part quoted in Time magazine, September 8, 1967.
37 Interview by Roy Plomley, Desert Island Discs, BBC Home Service, November 30, 1964.
38 January 4, 1962. “Take Five” (composed by Paul Desmond) was on the Brubeck album Time Out—a record bought or heard by Paul McCartney in 1963.
39 Author interview, April 10, 2005.
40 Ibid.
41 Interview by Johnny Beerling, January 1972, for BBC Radio 1. The 23 Club was a private dining room at 23 Hope Street frequented by artists and the Philharmonic Hall classical musicians. Brian and Clive were members.
42 Davies, p131.
43 Interview by Larry Kane, August 1965; “miss their greatest moments” from Davies, p130.
44 Interview by Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld, September 1971.
45 Many Years From Now, p88.
46 Interview by Ken Sharp, Beatlefan, June/July 1989. Bob Wooler helped shift these records. When George received his second supply of “My Bonnies” from Stuart, he gave one to Wooler, who plugged it at every opportunity—and he was now compere and stage manager at eleven live sessions a week. As he told Johnny Beerling in 1972 for BBC Radio 1, “I used to urge people, ‘Look, for heaven’s sake, go and buy this record. It’s called ‘My Bonnie,’ it’s on Polydor and it’s by your Beatles. They don’t actually sing on it, but they’re there on it.’ ”
47 Celebration: John Lennon—Dream Weaver, Granada TV, November 6, 1981. There’s no reason to disbelieve this anecdote, but both Wooler and Epstein also said they’d met (briefly) when Brian first saw the Beatles in the Cavern on November 9.
48 The Best Years of the Beatles, p135.
49 Brian details via Pete Best in Beatle!, pp126–7, and The Best Years of the Beatles, p135. The Beatles’ response is quoted by Ringo Starr in an unpublished 1972 interview seen by the author. He was relating what the others told him after he joined the group.
50 Interview by Johnny Beerling, January 13, 1972, for BBC Radio 1.
51 Sam Leach remembers John and Paul telling him about Brian and saying, “He’s a fucking millionaire!”—this preceding an occasion when he says they asked him to go and see Brian Epstein and come back to them with his opinion. “Antwakky” from Beatle!, p127.
52 Author interview, August 11, 2004.
53 Interview by Kenneth Harris, Observer, May 17, 1964.
54 Davies, p119.
55 Bill Grundy interview.
56 Interview by Richard Buskin, March 9, 1987.
57 Every aspect of this story is strange. When it was in these few days that Brian Epstein had an acetate cut, where, with which song, and from what source recording, remain unanswered questions. The mention of a “TV broadcast” was a white lie—the Beatles hadn’t appeared on television; and if Brian had an acetate, why didn’t he give it to his primary contacts at EMI and Decca instead of or in addition to “My Bonnie”?
58 November 11, 1961.
59 Let’s Twist!, by George Carpozi, Jr. (Pyramid Books, New York, 1962), p11.
60 December 16, 1961. Six US record companies might have been fighting over the “My Bonnie” master tape (that smell is called hype) but the skirmish was predictably won by (American) Decca, which issued all the Bert Kaempfert records. For reasons unknown, the label didn’t release “My Bonnie” until April 1962.
Cash Box previously reported (November 11, 1961) that Kaempfert spent five days in New York at the end of October, just before “Twist” b
roke big. He said then that Sheridan was his “sensational new singer from England,” so there’s a fair chance he took “My Bonnie” with him on the trip and played it around the business. “Twist-mania” from Billboard, December 4, 1961.
61 Disc, May 27, 1961. Abbey Road took delivery of a German-made Telefunken four-track tape recorder in 1959, the first major piece of equipment at the studio not made in EMI’s own laboratories. It remained for some years almost the preserve of classical and opera producers, who used it for spreading the recording of certain instruments, for better sound balance, rather than for multitracking.
More information about the machine, along with every other piece of equipment at EMI’s Abbey Road studios through the 1960s, and the people who operated them, is in the sumptuous book Recording the Beatles, by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew (Curvebender Publishing, USA, 2006).
62 George’s pied-à-terre was Flat 5, 23 Upper Berkeley Street, a smart terrace that George says belied the flats inside (a bit like Gambier Terrace in Liverpool). Judy’s flat was on the third floor (out of four) at 55 Manchester Street and looked straight into the Wallace Collection art gallery across the street. The building has since been demolished, as has EMI House.
63 “Pillar” from Alley-gations column by Brian Harvey, September 7, 1961; Eastman’s visit to Britain was mentioned in Billboard, September 11, 1961.
64 Document in the PRS archive.
65 From the raw transcripts of interviews for his autobiography A Cellarful of Noise.
66 Bill Grundy interview. Brian Epstein referred to this December 3 meeting as the first, when it wasn’t.
67 Bill Grundy interview; “with his slow, lopsided smile” from A Cellarful of Noise, p49.
68 A Cellarful of Noise, p50.
69 Keith Smith worked for Bailey, Page & Co, whose office was at 10 Dale Street. Gerry and the Pacemakers used him too, and it’s likely this is how the Beatles heard about him. It was necessary that they have an accountant, probably because the Inland Revenue had discovered they lived from a cash income. Paul made the first appointment, arriving after a Cavern lunchtime session in about August 1961.
70 Interview by Mike Read, October 13, 1987, for BBC Radio 1.
71 Author interview, May 19, 1987.
72 First part from interview by Jann S. Wenner, Rolling Stone, May 14, 1970; second from interview by Lisa Robinson, Hit Parader, December 1975.
73 Interview by author and Kevin Howlett, June 6, 1990.
74 Interview by Mike Read, October 13, 1987, for BBC Radio 1.
75 In A Cellarful of Noise, Brian said they went to “a milk bar.” This is possible, but a pub was the more likely destination. One of Brian’s favorite haunts was the Basnett Bar, at 29 Basnett Street, equidistant between the two Nems shops. Derek Taylor (whom Brian didn’t yet know) was among the regulars here.
76 Interview by Elliot Mintz, January 1, 1976.
77 I Me Mine, p33. This was like someone saying, in later years, his act would be bigger than the Beatles.
78 “We certainly weren’t naive …” from interview by Lisa Robinson, Hit Parader, December 1975; “It was assessment …” from interview by Jann S. Wenner, December 8, 1970, for Rolling Stone.
79 A Cellarful of Noise, p51.
TWENTY-THREE: The Boys (December 1961)
1 Author interview, January 19, 2008. Davies went on to launch and run the Liverpool record shop Probe (1971–) and from that the equally influential record label Probe Plus (1981–).
2 Author interview, October 29, 2004.
3 Author interview, June 12, 2005.
4 Author interview, March 28, 2003.
5 Author interview, August 30, 2005.
6 The Beatles sang “Young Blood” in a BBC radio session in 1963, and a recording is on their 1994 album Live at the BBC. John was still doing his vocal crip—it comes forty-two seconds into the song.
7 Author interviews—Freda Kelly, March 28, 2003; Steve Calrow, June 1, 2008; Lindy Ness, October 29, 2004; Geoff Davies, January 19, 2008; Susan Sanders, June 13, 2005; Maureen O’Shea, May 13, 2010; Lou Steen, June 12, 2005; Barbara Houghton, January 15, 2008; Beryl Johnson, August 4, 2005; Bobby Brown, July 5, 2007; Liz Tibbott-Roberts, June 11, 2005; Clive Walley, February 19, 2008; Ruth Gore, November 27, 2005; Alan Smith, June 1, 2005; Vivien Jones, July 24, 2007.
8 Author interview, July 5, 2007.
9 Author interview, March 15, 2011.
10 Author interview, May 19, 1987.
11 Beatle!, pp130–2. Eppy had also been a school nickname, Brian told London Life magazine (July 23, 1966).
12 Davies, p134.
13 Beatle!, p127.
14 Author interview, August 27, 2004.
15 The Complete Beatles Chronicle, p54.
16 Interview by Mike Read, October 13, 1987, for BBC Radio 1.
17 Exactly what happened has been a mystery for decades and is sure to remain so, not least since none of the Beatles ever mentioned going into London after Aldershot or John and Paul strumming this night in the capital for the first time.
18 Beatle!, p90.
19 Interview by Johnny Beerling, January 13, 1972, for BBC Radio 1; “better not to do it” from The Best of Fellas, p157.
20 Author interview, August 27, 2004.
21 A Cellarful of Noise, p53.
22 “Dynamic new policy” from Melody Maker, December 9, 1961; “singles by British artists” from NME, December 8, 1961.
23 Author interview, September 29, 2004.
24 The Complete Beatles Chronicle, p55.
25 Memorandum from Len Wood to Richard Dawes (EMI main board director), December 17, 1963; illustrated in The Complete Beatles Chronicle, p55.
26 Brian Epstein quotes from the raw transcripts of interviews for his autobiography A Cellarful of Noise.
27 Author interview, June 9, 2005.
28 A Secret History, by Alistair Taylor (John Blake Publishing, London, 2001), p29. Taylor spoke as if he was present at the first management meeting (or meetings), and perhaps he was, but no one else mentioned him.
29 How They Became the Beatles, p42.
30 Evidence given at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, May 6, 1998.
31 From the raw transcripts of interviews for his autobiography A Cellarful of Noise.
32 Interview by Nicky Campbell, BBC Radio 1, July 7, 1992.
33 Author interview, March 18, 2006.
34 Davies (p132) said Peter Eckhorn offered “around 300 Marks a week” and Brian Epstein wanted 400, but this is incorrect.
35 Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, October 10, 1964. “Tranquilizer” was probably Record Mirror–speak: George would have asked Eckhorn if he had any Prellies.
36 Author interview, June 1, 2005.
37 The Beatles Anthology, p67. Paul’s Nucleus Coffee Bar recollection in interview by Roger Scott, Capital Radio (London), November 17, 1983; pot tale from Davies, pp135–6, and Beatle!, pp143–4. Hunter Davies quotes Neil Aspinall saying the Beatles were there when the men wanted to smoke “pot” in their van, and they were scared because they didn’t know what it was—but they did. Pete’s memory is more likely to be correct—he says Neil alone had the approach. He also says the men were junkies, looking to have “a fix” in the van.
38 Pete Best says (Beatle!, p123) that John and Paul each bought a pair of the boots in Anello & Davide on their way back from Paris in October. This is unlikely: not only did Paul say they flew home from France, the boots don’t appear in any 1961 photos.
TWENTY-FOUR: Choices (January 1–February 5, 1962)
1 The Last Resort With Jonathan Ross, Channel 4, October 16, 1987. Previous two quotes are John’s: the first from interview in L’Express, March 23–29, 1970 (spoken English, translated into French print, now back to English), the second from Davies, p306.
2 Author interview, September 29, 2004.
3 In Beatle! (p144) and The Best Years of the Beatles (p137), Pete relates this differently, saying Brian was angry because the Beat
les—not Mike Smith—arrived late for the session, and that John told him to calm down (“bugger off”). Brian was always clear that it was Smith who was late, and Smith confirmed this to me, but it’s possible the Beatles were late and Smith later. George quote also from Beatle!, p144.
4 Five of the fifteen are available on The Beatles Anthology 1. The complete session tape first surfaced on the bootleg market in 1976–7.
5 Interview by Howard Smith, WPLJ-FM, New York, January 23, 1972.
6 Interview by Paul Drew, US radio, April 1975.
7 Payne made his remarks in A Pair of Jacks (BBC-tv, December 30, 1961) and repeated them to Melody Maker (January 6, 1962).
8 Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress, p49.
9 Ibid.
10 Author interview, February 1, 2007.
11 Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress, p49.
12 The British pressing had the English-language spoken intro by Sheridan, with John, Paul and George’s wordless harmony backing. This probably came as a surprise to them. The same English intro was also used for the January 1962 German re-promotion of “My Bonnie” that capitalized on its (tenuous) “Twist” connection.
13 Mentions—Record Retailer, January 18, 1962; Cash Box, Jan 13; Liverpool Echo, Jan. 20 Reviews—NME, Jan 5; Disc, Jan 13; Record Retailer, Jan 4; Melody Maker, Jan 27; The World’s Fair, Jan 6. Only New Record Mirror failed to review it.
14 Author interview, April 13, 2007.
15 Paul said in October 1962, and the other Beatles didn’t disagree, that “My Bonnie” “got to number five in the German hit parade,” but this wasn’t right. It appeared on an array of different charts, its positions generally skewed by the aggregation of sales of other versions of “My Bonnie” by different artists. It peaked at 32 in the monthly Deutsche Hit-Parade published in West Germany’s main music business magazine Der Musikmarkt, and it reached 11 in the “aktuelle 50” in the monthly Musikbox (juke-box) trade magazine Automaten Markt. Its highest known position anywhere in this period was 4, in a newspaper chart of popular “Twist” records in Hamburg (Bild-Zeitung, May 21, 1962).
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