BOOK REVIEW: THE BEATLES by Richard Havers

Shane | 9 July 2025 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: THE BEATLES by Richard Havers
Chartwell Books, November 2024
Hard cover, rrp $45.00
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

You might doubt anyone could bring anything new to The Beatles, given the hundreds (thousands?) of books already out there, but this one provided enough of a new angle to warrant its existence and is sure to spark interest in Beatles fans.

But it’s not a completely NEW angle at all – this book was originally published in 2010 as The Beatles: The Days Of Their Lives and apparently taps the archival photo library of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, Mirrorpix.

Thus, we have an impressive collection of photos – many of them rare and behind the scenes – from the lifespan of The Beatles, plus annual timelines of their activities and successes.

Where it falls down a little is in the short pieces of text in each section, which could have been polished some more by a good editor, but overall, this is a fine overview of arguably the greatest band ever.

As an added bonus there is a small collection of reproductions of flyers, posters, program covers and the like tucked at the back in a back cover envelope, which are sure to be of interest to collectors..

The real joy in this book is the candid photographs which give us a glimpse into McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr just being themselves in the eye of a whirlwind the likes of which had never been seen before, and rarely since.