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This day saw the publication of Hunter Davies’ authorized biography The Beatles, the first really serious Beatles book. It sold a gazillion copies, has been revised many times in the intervening years, and remains in print.
I own a copy of the original edition, but must confess that I’ve never read the whole thing. From what I can tell it is limited both by its early date of writing (it goes only through the end of 1967) and its status as an authorized — and therefore sanitized — portrait. But at the time of publication it was the definitive work on the subject, and it has been drawn upon by every subsequent biographer.
Davies has certainly not suffered from his association with The Beatles, though he had to endure a certain amount of guff from John Lennon during John’s early-70s Beatle-renouncing phase. In addition to several other Beatles books, he has written multiple memoirs, a biography of William Wordsworth, and something called Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans. His most recent book, published in 2017, was A Life in the Day, subtitled “A Memoir of the Sixties, Writing, the Beatles and My Beloved Wife.”
The latter was the writer Margaret Forster, author of many books including Georgy Girl, subsequently adapted into a movie starring Vanessa Redgrave and with a hit title song by Aussie group the Seekers:
Now, can the Seekers be connected back to The Beatles, giving me a way out of this pointless spiraling tangent? Of course they can. Quoth the Wikipedia:
Early in 1966, after returning to Australia, the Seekers filmed their first TV special, At Home with the Seekers. The band were named “Best New Group of 1965” at the 1966 New Musical Express Poll Winners Awards. They appeared at the celebratory Wembley Arena concert, on a bill which included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield and the Animals.
Boom! Night everybody.