SHORTLISTED for the Baillie Gifford Prizeâs 25th Anniversary Winner of Winners award
WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020
A Spectator Book of the Year âą A Times Book of the Year âą A Telegraph Book of the Year âą A Sunday Times Book of the Year
From the award-winning author of comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography of the Fab Four.Maâam Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret
John Updike compared them to âthe sun coming out on an Easter morningâ. Bob Dylan introduced them to drugs. The Duchess of Windsor adored them. Noel Coward despised them. JRR Tolkien snubbed them. The Rolling Stones copied them. Loenard Bernstein admired them. Muhammad Ali called them âlittle sissiesâ. Successive Prime Ministers sucked up to them. No one has remained unaffected by the music of The Beatles. As Queen Elizabeth II observed on her golden wedding anniversary, âThink what we would have missed if we had never heard The Beatles.â
traces the chance fusion of the four key elements that made up The Beatles: fire (John), water (Paul), air (George) and earth (Ringo). It also tells the bizarre and often unfortunate tales of the disparate and colourful people within their orbit, among them Fred Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Maharishi, Aunt Mimi, Helen Shapiro, the con artist Magic Alex, Phil Spector, their psychedelic dentist John Riley and their failed nemesis, Det Sgt Norman Pilcher.One Two Three Four
From the bestselling author of comes a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories. joyfully echoes the frenetic hurly-burly of an era.Maâam DarlingOne Two Three Four
