May 2020

So an idea came up: who would SATB like to talk to in Beatle world and sit down for an interview? Qualifications: first, they have to be among the living (as of this taping); Second, they have to be completely honest and not fall back on deflection or “professional Beatle fan” chatter: stories they’ve entertained with for years that may or may not be factually accurate. Last, they have to be people on the inside who have either not told their stories at all or not told them to death. Though mortality hangs over us all, there are still folks out there who, to the best of my knowledge, range to speaking on record only sparingly or not at all; have written books, but if we discussed them here, it’s because their books didn’t go deep enough or raised more questions.) Joining in the conversation is a returning guest (182 and 188), retired academic Gary Wenstrup. He came up with his list, I came up with mine, and together we covered as much ground as we could in this, the first of a two-parter (at least).

Rock historian and radio interviewer Spencer Leigh has been chronicling the music scene generally and The Beatles specifically from his native Merseyside for decades. He has penned well over two dozen books, half of them on Beatles-specific subjects. In this conversation, we discuss an array of topics, including writing and researching The Beatles; Bob Wooler; Liverpool bands; Bob Dylan, and Ken Dodd, among other topics. Check out Spencer’s work here.