AuthorCraig Brown
NarratorMark McGann, Kate Robbins
Duration20h 20m
CategoriesAdult Non-Fiction, Music and the Arts
PublisherHarper Collins
VersionUnabridged
SHORTLISTED for the Baillie Gifford Prize’s 25th Anniversary Winner of Winners award
WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020
A Spectator Book of the Year A Times Book of the Year A Telegraph Book of the Year A Sunday Times Book of the Year
From the award-winning author of Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography of the Fab Four.
John Updike compared them to ‘the sun coming out on an Easter morning’. 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 ‘little sissies’. 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, ‘Think what we would have missed if we had never heard The Beatles.’
One Two Three Four 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.
From the bestselling author of Ma’am Darling comes a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories. One Two Three Four joyfully echoes the frenetic hurly-burly of an era.
Author: Debbie Harry
Author Debbie Harry
Narrator Clem Burke
Duration 8h 53m
Debbie Harry is a musician, actor, activist and the iconic face of New York City cool. As the front-woman of Blondie, she and the band forged a new sound that brought together the worlds of rock, punk, disco, reggae and hip-hop to create some of the most beloved pop songs of all time. With all the grit, grime, and glory recounted in intimate detail...
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Author: Craig Brown
Author Craig Brown
Narrator The Author, Harriet Walter
Duration 19h 47m
Virginia Woolf compared her to a caterpillar; Anne Frank kept pictures of her on the wall of her annex; Jimi Hendrix played her tune; Haile Selassie gave her a gold tiara; Dirk Bogarde watched Death in Venice with her. Queen Elizabeth II was famous for longer than anyone who has ever lived. When people spoke of her, they spoke of themselves; when t...
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Author: Books Listening
Author Books Listening
Narrator Amy Lloyd
Duration 28m
We chat to the author of popular thriller novels One More Lie and The Innocent Wife.
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Author: Books Listening
Author Books Listening
Narrator Simon Lelic
Duration 14m
We speak to the author of the popular thriller novels The House and The Liar's Room. Photo credit Justine Stoddart.
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An Interview With Angela Chadwick
Author: Books Listening
Author Books Listening
Narrator Angela Chadwick
Duration 18m
We speak to debut author Angela Chadwick about her award-winning novel, XX.
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Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret
Author: Craig Brown
Author Craig Brown
Narrator Eleanor Bron
Duration 12h 20m
She made John Lennon blush and Marlon Brando clam up. She cold-shouldered Princess Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gore Vidal revered her. Dudley Moore propositioned her. Francis Bacon heckled her. Peter Sellers was in love with her. Princess Margaret aroused passion and indig...
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Author: Uwe Schutte
Author Uwe Schutte
Narrator Sam Peter Jackson
Duration 6h 14m
Brought to you by Penguin. The story of the phenomenon that is Kraftwerk, and how they revolutionised our cultural landscape 'We are not artists nor musicians. We are workers.' Ignoring nearly all rock traditions, experimenting in near-total secrecy in their Dsseldorf studio, Kraftwerk fused sound and technology, graphic design and performance, mo...
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Author: Andrew Ridgeley
Author Andrew Ridgeley
Narrator Andrew Ridgeley
Duration 5h 59m
For the first time, Andrew Ridgeley - one half of one of the most famous bands in the world - tells the inside story of Wham! and his life-long friendship with George Michael. It is 1975, Watford, and two teenagers, George and Andrew, meet for the first time. Bonding over their love for singing, song writing and pop music, together they set out to...
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Author: Min Kym
Author Min Kym
Narrator Rebecca Yeo
Duration 8h 10m
Penguin presents the complete unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Gone by Min Kym, read by Rebecca Yeo. 'The hours fell away as I read this spellbinding tale of love, loss, and above all devotion to art. You probably don't know what it feels like to be a child prodigy or a world class violinist, but you will after reading this luminous me...
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Author: Blake Snyder
Author Blake Snyder
Narrator George Newbern
Duration 5h 25m
Here's what started the phenomenon: the bestseller, for over fifteen years, that's been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying, others include t...
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