The Beatles – both throughout their careers, and long after they ended – have had countless books written about them, but thankfully, none like this. The Beatles 101 tells the story of the fab four using a unique method of cutting down their stories into 101 defined chapters. The stunning hardback delves into such cultural enigmas as “Paul McCartney is dead”, and some intriguing factoids on how and where some iconic songs were written and recorded.
Fans of The Beatles will always be looking for more information about John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison – and The Beatles 101 brings all of the most interesting facts to the front an centre.
Few people today question why the band are still so implicitly successful, something The Beatles 101 author Vikki Reilly was more than happy to discuss.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Vikki explained she is a self-professed Beatle fanatic (even played drums like her hero at the time, Ringo Starr), and it sounds like she’s figured out some of the nuanced differences between the fab four and the rest of history’s bands.
She confidently announced: “The Beatles have become more than a band in some ways.”
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Vikki continued: “People think about The Beatles in a way they don’t think about Bob Dylan or The Rolling Stones – or even Elvis [Presley] in some kind of ways!”
On why this might be, Vikki went on: “A lot of it has to do with the story as well as the music… and them as well because they were so themselves.”
The author conducted a massive amount of research to really get under the skin of each member of The Beatles.
Throughout her journey looking into the lives of the band she came to the conclusion that, after combing through old interviews “they were just so honest about who they were”.
“At the same time are obviously so talented, and so curious, and so present in the time they were working.”
Vikki added: “There’s not very many bands that have their [own] stories as well. [The Beatles] lived about five million lifetimes in the space of eight years.
“The more you read and watch the more you realise how extraordinary it all was.”
It is obvious that Vikki has a dedicated and passionate joy for The Beatles, and it comes across so naturally in her book.
Newcomers to The Beatles will of course be inundated with glorious facts – such as George Martin’s first number one being with novelty act The Temperance Seven, rather than the fab four.
Or, perhaps, that The Beatles only appeared on iconic British culture show Top of the Pops once in their entire careers.
As well as this, though, dedicated Beatlemaniacs will find a huge amount of new content in this tome of knowledge that ought to be experienced first hand.
The Beatles 101 is available from Thursday, October 1st.