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HarperCollins WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS The Beatles Changed the World. but Who Changed Theirs?.
HarperCollins WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS The Beatles Changed the World. but Who Changed Theirs? ABISBOOK HarperCollins.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published June 5, 2025
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2 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Maconie
31 books187 followersStuart Maconie is a TV and radio presenter, journalist, columnist and author.
He is the UK’s best-selling travel writer of non-TV tie-in books and his Pies and Prejudice was one of 2008’s top selling paperbacks. His work has been compared with Bill Bryson, Alan Bennett and John Peel and described by The Times as a 'National Treasure'.
He co-hosts the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 every Monday – Thursday evening, as well as The Freak Zone on 6Music on Sunday afternoons, and has written and presented dozens of other shows on BBC Radio. His TV work includes presenting the BBC's On Trial shows, Pop on Trial and Style on Trial, as well as Stuart Maconie’s TV Towns, a popular gazeteer of major British cities and their roles in modern cultural life for ITV 4 and The Cinema Show/The DVD Collection on BBC 4.
As well as a popping up in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, and on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Stuart was a favourite on hit TV series such as the BBC's I love the 1970s' , I love the 1980s , and is now in variously Grumpy... . His other books include the acclaimed official biographies of both Blur and James. He can name GQ Man of the Year and Sony Awards Radio Broadcaster of the Year amongst his accolades. He has regular columns in The Radio Times and Country Walking and writes for WORD magazine and The Mirror.
He is the UK’s best-selling travel writer of non-TV tie-in books and his Pies and Prejudice was one of 2008’s top selling paperbacks. His work has been compared with Bill Bryson, Alan Bennett and John Peel and described by The Times as a 'National Treasure'.
He co-hosts the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 every Monday – Thursday evening, as well as The Freak Zone on 6Music on Sunday afternoons, and has written and presented dozens of other shows on BBC Radio. His TV work includes presenting the BBC's On Trial shows, Pop on Trial and Style on Trial, as well as Stuart Maconie’s TV Towns, a popular gazeteer of major British cities and their roles in modern cultural life for ITV 4 and The Cinema Show/The DVD Collection on BBC 4.
As well as a popping up in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, and on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Stuart was a favourite on hit TV series such as the BBC's I love the 1970s' , I love the 1980s , and is now in variously Grumpy... . His other books include the acclaimed official biographies of both Blur and James. He can name GQ Man of the Year and Sony Awards Radio Broadcaster of the Year amongst his accolades. He has regular columns in The Radio Times and Country Walking and writes for WORD magazine and The Mirror.
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October 21, 2025
This is a book not about The Beatles, but about the people around the band that helped to make them. It is a series of vignettes about a long list of characters. One of the book’s weaknesses is that there are too many “friends”, and each individual description too brief. The reader is unable to sink into a narrative, and as a result it becomes a bit relentless as you move from one person to the next. Maconie also tries a bit too hard to introduce characters whose connection to The Beatles is at best tangential. Tariq Ali’s inclusion is a bit of mystery, as is Meta Davies’, the traffic warden who probably wasn’t the inspiration for “Lovely Rita”. But I also wondered why people whose role in The Beatles’ story was obviously large don’t receive more space. Perhaps he felt that Brian Epstein, Yoko Ono and Linda McCartney already had enough words dedicated to their lives in other books.
Although I said the book is not about The Beatles themselves, it is a Beatles book. And there are better ones that have been published recently, Ian Leslie’s and Craig Brown’s spring to mind. Indeed, I suspect that Stuart Maconie would concede that.
Nevertheless, his book is definitely worth reading. He does tell some good stories. Maconie is also passionate about the subject, and that shines though on every page. His love for the band comes through most strongly in the final chapter “Beyond the Beatles”. He makes some extravagant claims for their music. Here are a few examples, firstly quoting Graham Coxon of Blur,
‘Pretending not to get The Beatles is sheer affectation.’
The next two from Maconie himself,
“The Beatles’ canon is popular music’s most extraordinary body of work. For variety, innovation, significance and popularity, nothing and no one can touch it, not Dylan, not Gershwin, not Joni Mitchell, definitely not The Rolling Stones and certainly not bloody Schubert”
“Paul McCartney might be the most musical human being who has ever lived, certainly that we’re aware of.”
I love these quotes. Even if there is a whiff of hyperbole about them, they tell you how much The Beatles mean to Stuart Maconie, and that is why you should read his book.
Although I said the book is not about The Beatles themselves, it is a Beatles book. And there are better ones that have been published recently, Ian Leslie’s and Craig Brown’s spring to mind. Indeed, I suspect that Stuart Maconie would concede that.
Nevertheless, his book is definitely worth reading. He does tell some good stories. Maconie is also passionate about the subject, and that shines though on every page. His love for the band comes through most strongly in the final chapter “Beyond the Beatles”. He makes some extravagant claims for their music. Here are a few examples, firstly quoting Graham Coxon of Blur,
‘Pretending not to get The Beatles is sheer affectation.’
The next two from Maconie himself,
“The Beatles’ canon is popular music’s most extraordinary body of work. For variety, innovation, significance and popularity, nothing and no one can touch it, not Dylan, not Gershwin, not Joni Mitchell, definitely not The Rolling Stones and certainly not bloody Schubert”
“Paul McCartney might be the most musical human being who has ever lived, certainly that we’re aware of.”
I love these quotes. Even if there is a whiff of hyperbole about them, they tell you how much The Beatles mean to Stuart Maconie, and that is why you should read his book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review