The Beatles are not only a rock n' roll group, but a social and cultural phenomenon that have captivated music fans for decades. For many, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr changed everything.

This guide distils their amazing story into 101 informative and entertaining chapters, taking you from their rough and ready early Liverpool days through their world-shattering success in sound, stage and screen, to an afterlife that could never have been predicted when they first started out. Here, you'll find facts and figures about their chartbusting songs, albums and films, meet the people that helped them along the way, and visit milestones and controversies such as their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, meeting Elvis Presley, John Lennon's 'Bigger than Jesus' comments, experimenting with drugs and the avant-garde, and starting up Apple.

The Beatles 101 is a perfect introduction for new fans, a refresher for superfans, and ideal reading for quizmasters everywhere.



Vikki Reilly has worked in bookselling and publishing for twenty years. She was struck down by Beatlemania, thanks to her best friend's big brother's record collection and a C-90 cassette, when she was thirteen years old and hasn't been the same since. As a student, she got a job in Virgin Megastore by discussing Ringo Starr's backward fills, and – later in life – only managed the last fifteen miles of the West Highland Way by singing the Beatles back catalogue in chronological order. This is her first book.