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Ray Connolly

Goodreads Author

Born

St Helens, Lancashire, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk

Twitter

rayconnolly

Member Since

January 2012

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Ray Connolly grew up in Lancashire, England. After graduating from the London School of Economics he began a career in journalism, and wrote a weekly interview column for the London Evening Standard, concentrating mainly on popular culture and music. Since then he has written for the Sunday Times, The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Observer and the Daily Mail. Many of his interviews with members of the Beatles have been republished in his eBook, The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive.
His first novel, A Girl Who Came To Stay, was published in 1973. Several other novels followed, including Newsdeath, Sunday Morning, Shadows On A Wall and Kill For Love.
Working with producer David Puttnam he wrote the original screenplays for the films That’ll Be th ...more

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Mr. Connolly--Eleven years ago, I loved listening to your radio play Unimaginable, about the effect John Lennon's murder had on you and your family. I tape-recorded it off the computer, but was wondering if a professional recording of it was available commercially? Thanks for your work!

Ray Connolly I'm afraid not, James. The BBC didn't make as much stuff available then commercially. And even if they had done, it would have been too complicated be…moreI'm afraid not, James. The BBC didn't make as much stuff available then commercially. And even if they had done, it would have been too complicated because we used a couple of Beatle records in the play which were covered for playing under the blanket agreement with the BBC, but which meant that the play could only be broadcast in the UK and nowhere else.

Music publishers and record companies guard their product very carefully and every country has to have a special deal with them if they want to use their songs. Trying to get permission for the use of Imagine in a product outside the BBC would have made it commercially impossible.

Another radio play I wrote recently, Sorry, Boys. You Failed The Audition,, ran into the same problem. In the event a Czech version was translated and broadcast, but I can only assume they didn't use any songs, or they have their own blanket agreement for music.

I'm sorry to disappoint you.

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Ray Connolly
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Mr.Connolly, before asking you a question, I would like to attach a small note to say thank you so much for your latest work about Elvis "Being Elvis: A Lonely Life". I appreciated it a lot and, despite English is not my language, I was able to read it very well. Have you planned other books about Elvis? My regards, TCB !!

Ray Connolly Dear Patrizia,

Thank you for your note.

I'm so glad you enjoyed Being Elvis. No, I won't be writing any more books about Elvis, but I am currently writ…moreDear Patrizia,

Thank you for your note.

I'm so glad you enjoyed Being Elvis. No, I won't be writing any more books about Elvis, but I am currently writing one called Being John Lennon which will be published next year. I knew John well for many years and we would often talk about how Elvis changed our teenage lives in the late Fifties.

It was very kind of you to write to me.

With all best wishes

Ray Connolly(less)

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Ray Connolly’s books

Average rating: 4.11 · 2,644 ratings · 341 reviews · 61 distinct works • Similar authors

	Being Elvis: A Lonely Life 4.16 avg rating — 1,406 ratings — published 2016 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Being John Lennon 4.15 avg rating — 660 ratings — published 2018 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ray Connolly Beatles Archive 4.30 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shadows on a Wall 3.86 avg rating — 72 ratings — published 1994 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Love Out Of Season 3.26 avg rating — 70 ratings — published 2007 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Born At The Right Time 4.21 avg rating — 48 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Beatles Complete: Guitar Edition by Ray Connolly (Goodreads Author) (Introduction), Paul McCartney, John Lennon 4.19 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 1971 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	'Sorry, Boys, You Failed The Audition' 4.09 avg rating — 45 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	That'll be the Day 4.27 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 1973 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stardust 3.89 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 1974 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Ray Connolly's Blog

Sunday Morning

A couple of weeks ago Quercus Books reduced the price of the eBook version of my novel Love Out of Season to £0.99. The result was a massive spike in sales, and it shot up to 6th in the Amazon best sellers. Naturally it fell down again when the price went back to normal, but it got me thinking.

So I'm now selling the eBook version of my much earlier novel Sunday Morning at £1.99 as an experiment. Read more of this blog post »

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Published on February 11, 2014 07:22 • Tags: ray-connolly, sunday-morning

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Being Elvis: A Lonely Life

by Ray Connolly (Goodreads Author)

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May 28, 2017 04:44AM

Quotes by Ray Connolly (?)

“John was the ne'er-do-well father, Paul was the hardworking mother trying to keep everything together. George was a slightly surly teenager, and Ringo was this happy-go-lucky young kid with his model airplane. That's really how it was.”
― Ray Connolly

tags: beatles

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