My guest for todays episode is Ian Leslie, who joins me to discuss his brilliant book on John and Paul - 'A Love Story in Songs'. Ian's book traces the twists and turns of their relationship through the music it produced and offers rich insights into the nature of creativity, collaboration and human connection.   ..read more

My guest for todays episode is Allison Bumstead who is here to to discuss her brilliant book on Teen fan magazines. She focuses mainly on Teenset which under the stewardship of the remarkable Judith Sims was one of the most forward thinking and exciting pop publications of the 60's. We talk about how The Beatles were portrayed in these magazines and how essential their existence was to the first generation Beatles fan ..read more

My guest today is Seth Rogovoy who is here to discuss his book 'Within You Without You - Listening to George Harrison' Seth's book is a highly personal exploration of George's essential contributions to the Beatles and his solo work, as well as his significant role as a Western proponent of Indian music and beliefs ..read more

I'm delighted to welcome Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair back to the pod to discuss Volume 2 of their McCartney Legacy series. Volume 2 covers Paul's life from 1974 up until the start of 1980 and is researched in the same fascinating detail as Volume 1 was - for this conversation I wanted to focus on what happened to Paul and Wings after their 1976 World Tour concluded, he'd reached the top of the mountain again - what happened next?  ..read more

My very special guest for this episode is Elliot Mintz who fist 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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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.  ..read more

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     ..read more