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The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive

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Ray Connolly has been around as long as The Beatles. In fact he was a contemporary of them,and,as a journalist got to know them very closely indeed.He knew John in particular very well and they often exchanged phone calls. This latest offering from Connolly is a treasure chest of insights into The Beatles and comes with that confidence and authority of someone who was actually there as the events were taking place. It's a great read and a 'must' for all Beatle fans.

Ray Connolly's Beatles Archive is as verbatim as you'll ever get it. Amongst the plethora of recent so-called 'authoritative' biographies, diaries, movies and theories, this book shines brightly with the truth. Ray was there, not only as a first class journalist with his finger on the pulse of all The Beatles' news at the moment it happened, but often as a counsellor and sounding board for both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who each confided in him as perhaps the only newsman they could trust. When he wrote many of his articles there were details that he couldn't reveal, at the time. But here you'll read his revealing comments added to many of the articles that broke the biggest news stories of the day. And Connolly's not just an accurate observer, his special relationship with The Beatles was one on which real trust was built, especially with John who got 'sick and tired of reading things from...'. All he wanted was the truth. And here it is.

This book is not a history of the Beatles, but is a series of contemporary snapshots culled from the personal archives of London Evening Standard reporter Ray Connolly. Ray was present during both the group and the solo years, and his series of first-hand reports offer a level of detail that provides not only an entertaining read, but is invaluable to researchers. Each chapter is basically a reprint of as original article; however, in many instances Ray has complimented these pieces with additional material taken from his archives. There are several unpublished pieces as well, perhaps the most revealing being 'Japanese Jailbird', an account of Paul McCartney's detention at the pleasure of the Japanese government for attempting to enter the country with 220g of cannabis.

This is a must read for any Beatle fan that ever wished that they could have been a fly on the wall, and is a wonderful value, especially if you are an Amazon Prime member.