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Book specifications:
by Lew Baxter
243 pages
ISBN: 0-9531995-1-7
To purchase contact:-
Richard Spencer
+44 (0) 151 666 1500
e.mail: books@theretoday.co.uk
Retail price £14.00, €20 and US$30
Size 240mm x 160mm - hardback
First published in August 2003 by Guy Woodland as a cities500 project in association with Bargepole Press.
THE FOOL ON THE HILL:
The Saga of a Big Beatles Blunder
- by Lew Baxter
THIS is the wacky story of the man who was the first manager of the Beatles - and lost them after a row with John Lennon when he told what was to become the most famous musical outfit in the world to 'Get Lost!'
Over the forty odd years since he wantonly let the Beatles slip from his grasp, their first manager Allan Williams has led a wild yet charmed existence.
His skylarking exploits telling his tales at Beatles Conventions have amused and horrified friends and foes alike as he has caroused and capered across the world.
* He once tried to sell Yoko Ono a 'stolen' rare BBC Beatles film and told her to 'eff' off when she rang him early one morning.
* He sang Yesterday with the Leningrad State Orchestra in front of 10,000 enthralled Russian Beatles fans.
* He won a court case against Paul McCartney and Sotheby's over disputed ownership of the singer's original leather trousers.
* He made the first ever Beatles recording back in those early Hamburg days - today it would be worth millions - but lost it in London's Soho after a drunken spree.
* He excitedly but briefly managed a new young Beatles style band - the Georgian outfit Blitz - but in a rage got shut of them, just like the Beatles.
His story crackles with electricity, buzzing with a zest and lust for life. This often hilarious book is a MUST READ for all Beatles fans - and for anyone fascinated by the ongoing hullabaloo that washes over the lives and legends of the world's greatest pop band.
It will outrage some and infuriate others. And it will make you cry with laughter at Allan's pranks or weep with sympathy for his tragic misfortunes. But most of all it is the true story of a survivor battling against the odds.