RICHARD HOUGHTON

In the early 1960s, four boys from Liverpool changed the world of music forever.

And today The Beatles are rightly recognised as the biggest act in music history, famed for hits from ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ through to ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘All You Need is Love’. They had 17 UK and 20 US number 1 singles. Their singles compilation, 1, topped the album charts in 34 countries in the year 2000. All Our Loving – A People’s History of The Beatles takes the reader back to Liverpool in the 1950s and accompanies John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on their journey to stardom, from John and Paul’s fateful first meeting at Woolton Village Fete in July 1957 to the last ever paid-for show at Candlestick Park, San Francisco in August 1966. In the 1960s, post-war black-and-white Britain turned technicolour thanks to The Beatles, with 73 million Americans tuning into The Ed Sullivan Show on TV to see what all the fuss was about. The Beatles conquered the world, leaving behind a glittering legacy of popular songs and concert memories that fans have carried with them for years. There was no YouTube or Instagram then, no smartphones or selfies. Concert memories were made in the mind’s eye and captured in fans’ hearts and diaries, their stories shared with family and friends but otherwise unheard. Beatlemania placed four lads at the centre of a musical revolution that swept the world. This is that story, in the words of almost 500 teenagers who were there.