The author, a British humorist and journalist, selected 150 vignettes of the Moptops' upbringing and career. Some on familiar themes--did manager Brian Epstein have sex with John? How did Dylan introduce them to pot? What really happened when the lads went to India to commune with the Maharishi? How did the famous meeting with Elvis go? (after the awkward session, John asked, "I wonder who's more full of s..t? Me or Elvis?" Elvis to one of his entourage: "With all the money they have, why don't they get their teeth fixed?" A lot of wit and humor: Ed Sullivan warming up the crowd at the lads' first US broadcast "looking like he was reading an announcement of a fatal car accident"'; John's beloved Aunt Mimi, who raised him after his mother was killed by a truck, commenting on the naked "Two Virgins" album cover: "You're both so ugly. If you want to use a nude photo, why not have two people who aren't ugly?" Lots of inside info. Brown is sardonic at times, and doesn't miss any ironies, but he doesn't indulge in the nasty, corrosive snobbery and sarcasm that so many Brit authors use in writing about celebs. I liked it, but, at 575 pages, it was awfully long. I liked his shorter, "99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret" better--even though I knew next to nothing about her, I laughed out loud on almost every page.
Last edited by Turnbull; 12/08/2011:39 PM.
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
