Marshall has been on to me for some time to join a forum so that I can answer questions from Beatles fans. I must admit that I'm something of a recluse these days. I do get asked to become involved in various things, but I have to be careful. I have only been to one or two conventions because friends specifically asked me, but I haven't been to many. I also write a great deal for various Beatles fanzines - literally hundreds of articles over the decades and, of course, I never charge because they are friends and also to help out whenever I can. But, as I said, I have to be careful. for some reason you do get the people who say I am 'cashing in on the Beatles.' In fact, I notice one comment to that effect in the forum on Mersey Beatles.

bill if anyone deserves to cash in on the beatles,i am sure you would be included...there are some factors that earn you the rights to do such...so don't let some random moron tint your veiw towards the rest of us....thanks for climbing on board...i would love to shank off work and post and read more but the bills gotta be paid
peace marshall

On behalf of the management of this theatre, welcome Bill. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay here!

Welcome to the board, Bill.

Its great to have you here Bill. Welcome and I hope you stay awhile.

welcome to the forum bill, hope you have fun :)

I'm still trying to get the hang of figuring this out as I've never been on a forum in my life. Marshall and Bobber are helping me, so I hope to work it out with a bit of practice.

I've been busily detailing the stories from each individual issue of Mersey Beat and posting them on the http://www.rockandpopshop.com site. They are in the Editorial section under 'Bill Harry's Mersey Beat.' There are individual tales of my time with John, Brian Epstein and information on all the Mersey groups of the time, the venues they played and some funny stories. I hope you like them.

Quoted from Bill Harry

I'm still trying to get the hang of figuring this out as I've never been on a forum in my life. Marshall and Bobber are helping me, so I hope to work it out with a bit of practice.

So far so good Bill.  ;D

cool you are rolling along again...just take your time bill we will have you posting like an old pro in just a few days....you'll be posting pictures and maybe even videos....this as i told you will be monumentous...maybe ever bigger than paul mccartney and eings  ;D

Quoted from Bill Harry

I've been busily detailing the stories from each individual issue of Mersey Beat and posting them on the http://www.rockandpopshop.com site. They are in the Editorial section under 'Bill Harry's Mersey Beat.' There are individual tales of my time with John, Brian Epstein and information on all the Mersey groups of the time, the venues they played and some funny stories. I hope you like them.

Thanks Bill! I look forward to reading them.

Bill, can you help us out on collecting more information on Lord Woodbine here: http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/b-fifths/m-1177584536/

Welcome aboard. Good to have you here.

Tip of that again to you sir. ;) Glad Marshall helped you to find your way here.

It's great to have you here Bill!! :)

I have a copy of your book that featured facsimile pages from Mersey Beat - it really is a fascinating read, I especially love those adverts that John Lennon placed! Did he pay for those himelf, or did you have a hand in them?

Once again welcome ;D

Yes. It wasn't enough that I was printing his 'Beatcomber' columns, he was thirsty for more of his humour in print. Classifieds cost 4d a word and when he'd come into the office he'd dig into his pockets to see how much money he had

Hi Bill. Hope you don't mind all these questions. What are your thoughts on Pete Best? Did his personality really set him apart from the others?  

I always liked Pete, but he was a man of few words. I remember when we used to sit around in the Jacaranda and I tried to interview him and found it initially difficult because he didn't seem to have much to say. But to me that was his personality - taciturn. Actor Gary Cooper was the same way - a few words, but the personality was there. Perhaps that is why Bob Wooler referred to him as 'mean,moody and magnificence' (I know that came from the film 'The Outlaw'). but he was always a nice and friendly guy. The girls went mad because he hardly said anything. It gave him a sort of mysterious air. There is no doubt that he was definately the most popular member of the Beatles with the Liverpool girls during 1961 and 1962. As you know, girls used to sleep in his garden just to be near him. Bob Wooler, reckoning Pete's popularity, did the most unusual thing. He had Pete moved to the front of the stage with his drums, with the other three behind him. It was unprecedented, but the girls rushed forward and pulled him off the stage. It hadn't happened before with any of the others. They couldn't repeat the experience.

Quoted from Bill Harry

I always liked Pete, but he was a man of few words. I remember when we used to sit around in the Jacaranda and I tried to interview him and found it initially difficult because he didn't seem to have much to say. But to me that was his personality - taciturn. Actor Gary Cooper was the same way - a few words, but the personality was there. Perhaps that is why Bob Wooler referred to him as 'mean,moody and magnificence' (I know that came from the film 'The Outlaw'). but he was always a nice and friendly guy. The girls went mad because he hardly said anything. It gave him a sort of mysterious air. There is no doubt that he was definately the most popular member of the Beatles with the Liverpool girls during 1961 and 1962. As you know, girls used to sleep in his garden just to be near him. Bob Wooler, reckoning Pete's popularity, did the most unusual thing. He had Pete moved to the front of the stage with his drums, with the other three behind him. It was unprecedented, but the girls rushed forward and pulled him off the stage. It hadn't happened before with any of the others. They couldn't repeat the experience.

Welcome and thank you Bill for your implication on this forum.

Quoted from Bill Harry

I always liked Pete, but he was a man of few words. I remember when we used to sit around in the Jacaranda and I tried to interview him and found it initially difficult because he didn't seem to have much to say. But to me that was his personality - taciturn. Actor Gary Cooper was the same way - a few words, but the personality was there. Perhaps that is why Bob Wooler referred to him as 'mean,moody and magnificence' (I know that came from the film 'The Outlaw'). but he was always a nice and friendly guy. The girls went mad because he hardly said anything. It gave him a sort of mysterious air. There is no doubt that he was definately the most popular member of the Beatles with the Liverpool girls during 1961 and 1962. As you know, girls used to sleep in his garden just to be near him. Bob Wooler, reckoning Pete's popularity, did the most unusual thing. He had Pete moved to the front of the stage with his drums, with the other three behind him. It was unprecedented, but the girls rushed forward and pulled him off the stage. It hadn't happened before with any of the others. They couldn't repeat the experience.

Wow, tha5's incredible. I wonder how much of his departure was because of his drumming, vs. jealousy on the part of Paul and John ...

hello manon...how are you .....i hope you and yours are fine...maybe you can go meet bill when you move to london for 6 weeks...don't worry bill she is shyer than you are..lol

To Alexis: Paul McCartney finally admitted in his 'Wingspan' documentary some years ago that the sacking had nothing to do with Pete's ability as a drummer. After all, it was Pete who developed 'the atom beat' which was copied by all the Liverpool drummers. And Paul McCartney, Ron Richards and George Martin didn't like Ringo's drumming when the Beatles went to Abbey Road after sacking Pete, which is why they hired Andy White. He was hired because they had no confidence in Ringo. Yet, both Ringo's and Andy's version of the recordings were issued, one on the single, one on the album. John Lennon had got on well with Pete and was embarrassed by it all, he was to say they were cowards when they sacked Pete. George was the main one responsible for getting rid of Pete. Brian Epstein actually wanted the replacement to be Johnny Hutchinson of the Big Three.

Thank you for these fascinating insights, Bill! Ah, Pete Best: the original Mr. Spock. ;)

Do you recall George's reason for wanting to get rid of Pete? Thanks.

He had a special rapport with Ringo. He even went to Ringo's house to ask if he'd join, but Ringo's mum told him he was at Butlin's with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. I printed that in Mersey Beat, but I don't know if that's the reason why Bruno gave him that black eye. On the Mersey Beat cover where they are gathered at Speke airport to fly down to London and record, you can see George's shiner!

Yes, poor George! Or "bad Bruno". I do love that airport picture.

In your opinion, did the band seem to click better after Ringo joined? George has said so (naturally), and George Martin said so (at least eventually), but was it noticeable at the time? I think one of the things that was most appealing about the Beatles when we Americans finally saw them was their "all for one and one for all" kind of camaraderie.


As an aside, I fell into your site awhile back and didn't come out for two days. It sounds like you're still adding to it. I guess I'd better get back over there.

Thanks for participating in this forum! I feel like I'm visiting the oracle. Would you prefer sheep or goats for your offering? Cheers!

If you like the Mersey Beat site you'll like my other site. It's http://www.rockandpopshop.com If you go to the home page, see 'Editorial' at the top and click that, you'll see several editorial features. 'Mersey Artists' has detailed profiles of around 80 Mersey artists. 'Bill Harry's Mersey Beat' ifeatures issue by issue  of the original paper with my comments and anecdotes on the original stories. there is also the full story of the Mersey Beat paper.

Thanks for the link, Bill! I can see I'll have to fall into the archives for a while.  ;D

Hi Bill, This isn't really Beatle related although it sorta is since it has to do with Paul but at the moment I am researching information for a biography that I'm writing on former Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and I was wondering if you could offer any advice or stories if you saw Wings or Jimmy or anything?

Thanks and welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your stay  :)

Here is a piece I wrote about him in my 'Paul McCartney Encyclopedia.'
McCulloch, Jimmy.
A young guitarist who had a brief, but glorious spell with Wings.
     Jimmy was born in Glasgow on June 4 1953. At the age of 13 he joined a band called One In A Million. He was sixteen when he performed on a No. 1 record, ‘Something In The Air’ by Thundercap Newman. For a short time he was a guitarist in John Mayall’s band, following in the footsteps of such musicians as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. After the tragic electrocution on stage of Les Harvey (also a Glaswegian). Jimmy replaced him in Stone The Crows. In 1973 he joined the band Blue, managed by Robert Stigwood.
     Jimmy had originally met Paul when he first played with Paul, Linda, Denny Laine and Davy Lutton in Paris in 1972, backing Linda on the record ‘Seaside Woman’. He next met Paul in 1974 when he was hired to play on Mike McCartney’s album ‘McGear’, which Paul was producing. Paul then asked him to join in on some recording sessions with Wings in Nashville in June 1974, and Jimmy became a member of wings.
     He recorded on ‘Venus And Mars’, ‘Wings At The Speed Of Sound’, ‘Wings Over America’, ‘London Town’ and on the single ‘Junior’s Farm’. He also appeared on tour with the band.
     Following his appearances on the British gigs, Linda McCartney commented: “Jimmy is great and I think he’ll improve a lot, he’ll get better and better and really get his own style.” He went on the 1975/76 world tour and also on the 1977 tour of America. The American tour had originally been set to begin in either May or June 1976, but Jimmy dislocated his left hand after a concert in Paris and the US trip was postponed.
     Two numbers which Jimmy co-wrote with Colin Allen, a former member of Stone the Crows, were included in Wings’ repertoire. ‘Medicine Jar’ appears on ‘Venus and Mars’ and ‘Wings Over America’. Jimmy provided lead vocals for the number and performed it on the world tour. ‘Wino Junkie’, said to be a nickname for himself, and like ‘Medicine Jar’ about drugs, was included on the 1976 album ‘Wings At The Speed Of Sound’.
     Jimmy drank a lot and was often abrasive and argumentative with people. He argued frequently with Geoff Britton, until the latter left the band. There were even rumours of arguments between him and Paul. Jimmy finally left Wings on September 8 1977, joining the Small Faces for a short time, until he formed his own band, the Dukes.
     When he hadn’t turned up for rehearsals on two consecutive days, his brother Jack visited Jimmy’s Maida Vale flat and found his body on the floor. An open verdict was recorded on his death, although the pathologist reported that he had traced cannabis, alcohol and morphine in his body. Yet there were some mysterious circumstances. The flat contained no evidence of drink or drugs, there was no money to be found and a security chain on the door had been broken.
     Jack was to comment, “I’m sure someone was in the flat after my brother died and Id like to find out who he was.”
     The mystery has never been solved.

thanks for that  :)

Great stuff,welcom Bill

Hey, Welcome Bill! You've finally found DM's! i really enjoy reading your books very much!
i'm always looking through them for information.
just wondering, when was the last time you saw Paul McCartney?

Andy  :)

Hey Bill, I was wondering if you could possibly shed some light on a topic Marshall and I and few other members talked about before. When Ringo was playing with Rory, he had a showcase called 'Starr Time' and as far as we know, he played 'Boys', 'Your Sixteen', 'Alley Oop', and 'Big Noise From Winetka'.

My question to you is would you possibly know if that was the complete setlist for the showcase or if there were other songs involved. Also, is there any known soundclips to any of those showcases avaliable anywhere?

If i'm barking up the wrong tree, I apologize, but it never hurts to ask. Thanks.

A number of years ago, backstage at a Rod Stewart concert, I was talking to Iris Caldwell, Rory's sister. She told me that she had a tape of a complete set of Rory Storm & the Hurricanes playing at the Cavern, when Ringo was a member. She said it had been recorded on a domestic tape recorder. I told her this was a fantastic discovery and there'd be no trouble releasing an album. I contacted Abbey Road Studios and they said to bring the tape along as they had all the equipment to turn it into an acceptable form.
Then Iris phoned me. She said she'd try out the tape and see what was on it. She began playing it and the voice of Bob Wooler was making their introduction "...and now the golden boy himself..." and then a Cliff Richard radio show came on. Iris' mother had recorded over it!
On the Mersey Beat site http://www.mersey-beat.com in the A&Z section, I have Johnny Guitar's diaries of the early career when Ringo was a member and he has given a list of the group's repertoire of the time.

Taped over it!  :'(

I'm going to check the site out now. Thanks Bill. Its a real pleasure and an honor to have you here.

did gibson kemp remind you of stu at all????in a few pictures i thought so....he seemed to have a stu demeanour too...

Dear Bill -

Please come back, we miss you!

No Gibson didn't remind me of Stu. Perhaps the resemblance is in the pictures that Astrid took of him - her style of photo. After all, Gibbo and Astrid did get married. After they divorced he moved to Australia as a record executive, then returned to a village called Radlett and opened a pub there. When Klaus came to Liverpool he invited Pete and Roag Best, John Frankland and his wife, me and Virginia, Paddy Chambers and Gibbo to dinner. It was a re-union of Paddy, Klaus & Gibson. Sadly, Paddy was too ill to attend and died soon after. Gibson found that the chef had left his pub and couldn't attend.
Gibson and his second wife and daughter returned to Hamburg a few years ago to settle there. He has opened a pub restaurant. Kingsize Taylor and his wife also moved there, so they re-unite for live performances

Dear All,

Forgive me for posting material from my own book, but as a writer who is also a professional drummer, I've been asked constantly about my opinion of Ringo as a drummer, both in his own right and in comparison with Pete Best.  To be sure, we don't have a whole lot of recorded evidence of Pete Best's playing circa 1960-62 apart from the Polydor Tony Sheridan tapes and the Parlophone audition tapes, but what we do have is pretty telling.  In the interests of stimulating this discussion, I offer the following from Chapter 11 of "Can't Buy Me Love":

"Though their handling of the matter was utterly callous, the Beatles’ decision to replace the strapping Pete Best with this diminutive product of the Dingle was based on sound musical considerations.  Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had been hearing about their drummer’s shortcomings for more than a year from Tony Sheridan, whose musical judgment they respected. George Martin’s comment to Brian Epstein had seconded Sheridan’s opinion with the force of a voice from on high.  Though Martin had no way of knowing it, the Beatles had never thought of themselves as anything but a self-sufficient musical unit; the idea of having to rely on a session drummer (or, conversely, on a live drummer who wasn’t considered good enough to play on records) was an insult to their sense of autonomy.  Like Best, Starr possessed no more than a rudimentary technique on the drums.  He had never been one to practice, much less study, the instrument, but what distinguished him from Pete Best was the authority and feeling with which he applied his rudimentary skills.  Ringo’s playing was much punchier and more syncopated than that of his predecessor, and his fills – the accented interjections by a which a drummer annotates the structure of a song – were more varied and propulsive.  Like all beat drummers in Liverpool, Starr played loud and hard.  But whereas Pete Best tended to keep time with pounding quarter-notes on his bass drum, Ringo had learned to distribute the weight of his playing between his cymbals, bass, and snare.  However much an element of personal jealousy may have figured in the Beatles’ decision to change drummers, there was no question as to who was the better player of the two.  

"What was true of Ringo’s drumming was true of his personality as well.  Though his face retained the melancholy countenance of a sickly child, his disposition was generally agreeable and upbeat, while his long hospitalizations and his many comings and goings from school had made him something of an expert at fitting in.   At first, he was scarcely more outspoken than Pete Best.  “It’s how I’m built,” he explained.  “Some people gab all day and some people play it smogo.  I haven’t got a smiling face or a talking mouth.”  But where Best was bland, Starr had a decided flair.  He knew how to pick his moments, and he was a master of the quizzical Liverpudlian deadpan, the slow Liverpudlian double-take, and the curt Liverpudlian retort.  In some ways, his personality was everything the other three Beatles were not: stoic, unassuming, and unpretentious, with the only inauthentic thing about him being a stagename so preposterous that no one could be expected to take it seriously.  On account of his impoverished background and his lack of formal education, the other three Beatles looked down on him at first, for Ringo was truly a slum kid, utterly lacking in the glib confidence of suburban grammar school boys.  Yet this also made him a source of fascination to them.  As John Lennon put it, “To be so aware with so little education is rather unnerving to someone who’s been to school since he was fucking two onwards.”

"There is little question that the invitation to join the Beatles was the single luckiest thing that ever happened to Ringo Starr.  But Ringo’s acceptance of that invitation was also one of the luckiest things that ever happened to the Beatles.  It is hard to imagine that these three headstrong, self-satisfied young men could have anticipated how perfectly Starr’s looks and personality would complement their own, or how central the presence of this little comic drummer would be to the iconography that would develop around their group in the years ahead.  In any case, from the moment he joined, the Beatles became almost unimaginable without him.  As the author of the change from John-Paul-George-and-Pete to John-Paul-George-and-Ringo, he brought the ring of poetry to their common Christian names.  Moreover, at precisely the point where events were unfolding that would separate the Beatles forever from the city of their birth, they had added to their ranks an authentic souvenir of Liverpool.  Ringo’s presence ensured that, however far they ventured, they would always carry with them an unmistakable piece of home."

Welcome Jon Gould...I agree about the description of Ringo's style as a muso myself. Well written & nice quotes. ;)

Great article,thanks Jon :)

Great article Jon, thanks. And nice to see you finally posting! ;)

Yes, Jon. Many thanks. Great to see you again. :)

Great stuff. Though I can't get Jimmy Nicol out of my mind. The bandwagon rolled on, the fans kept screaming, and despite a silent drummer the press interviews were just as sharp and witty as the other press interviews.

Quoted from Kevin

Great stuff. Though I can't get Jimmy Nicol out of my mind. The bandwagon rolled on, the fans kept screaming, and despite a silent drummer the press interviews were just as sharp and witty as the other press interviews.

"All novel is fascinating. The roosters come home to play only after the sun goes down."

Somerset Maughley

Quoted from jongould

Dear All,

Forgive me for posting material from my own book, but as a writer who is also a professional drummer, I've been asked constantly about my opinion of Ringo as a drummer, both in his own right and in comparison with Pete Best.  To be sure, we don't have a whole lot of recorded evidence of Pete Best's playing circa 1960-62 apart from the Polydor Tony Sheridan tapes and the Parlophone audition tapes, but what we do have is pretty telling.  In the interests of stimulating this discussion, I offer the following from Chapter 11 of "Can't Buy Me Love":

"Though their handling of the matter was utterly callous, the Beatles’ decision to replace the strapping Pete Best with this diminutive product of the Dingle was based on sound musical considerations.  Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had been hearing about their drummer’s shortcomings for more than a year from Tony Sheridan, whose musical judgment they respected. George Martin’s comment to Brian Epstein had seconded Sheridan’s opinion with the force of a voice from on high.  Though Martin had no way of knowing it, the Beatles had never thought of themselves as anything but a self-sufficient musical unit; the idea of having to rely on a session drummer (or, conversely, on a live drummer who wasn’t considered good enough to play on records) was an insult to their sense of autonomy.  Like Best, Starr possessed no more than a rudimentary technique on the drums.  He had never been one to practice, much less study, the instrument, but what distinguished him from Pete Best was the authority and feeling with which he applied his rudimentary skills.  Ringo’s playing was much punchier and more syncopated than that of his predecessor, and his fills – the accented interjections by a which a drummer annotates the structure of a song – were more varied and propulsive.  Like all beat drummers in Liverpool, Starr played loud and hard.  But whereas Pete Best tended to keep time with pounding quarter-notes on his bass drum, Ringo had learned to distribute the weight of his playing between his cymbals, bass, and snare.  However much an element of personal jealousy may have figured in the Beatles’ decision to change drummers, there was no question as to who was the better player of the two.  

"What was true of Ringo’s drumming was true of his personality as well.  Though his face retained the melancholy countenance of a sickly child, his disposition was generally agreeable and upbeat, while his long hospitalizations and his many comings and goings from school had made him something of an expert at fitting in.   At first, he was scarcely more outspoken than Pete Best.  “It’s how I’m built,” he explained.  “Some people gab all day and some people play it smogo.  I haven’t got a smiling face or a talking mouth.”  But where Best was bland, Starr had a decided flair.  He knew how to pick his moments, and he was a master of the quizzical Liverpudlian deadpan, the slow Liverpudlian double-take, and the curt Liverpudlian retort.  In some ways, his personality was everything the other three Beatles were not: stoic, unassuming, and unpretentious, with the only inauthentic thing about him being a stagename so preposterous that no one could be expected to take it seriously.  On account of his impoverished background and his lack of formal education, the other three Beatles looked down on him at first, for Ringo was truly a slum kid, utterly lacking in the glib confidence of suburban grammar school boys.  Yet this also made him a source of fascination to them.  As John Lennon put it, “To be so aware with so little education is rather unnerving to someone who’s been to school since he was fucking two onwards.”

"There is little question that the invitation to join the Beatles was the single luckiest thing that ever happened to Ringo Starr.  But Ringo’s acceptance of that invitation was also one of the luckiest things that ever happened to the Beatles.  It is hard to imagine that these three headstrong, self-satisfied young men could have anticipated how perfectly Starr’s looks and personality would complement their own, or how central the presence of this little comic drummer would be to the iconography that would develop around their group in the years ahead.  In any case, from the moment he joined, the Beatles became almost unimaginable without him.  As the author of the change from John-Paul-George-and-Pete to John-Paul-George-and-Ringo, he brought the ring of poetry to their common Christian names.  Moreover, at precisely the point where events were unfolding that would separate the Beatles forever from the city of their birth, they had added to their ranks an authentic souvenir of Liverpool.  Ringo’s presence ensured that, however far they ventured, they would always carry with them an unmistakable piece of home."

Wow, great write, and great read. Thank you!

Hi Bill!

I was just wondering whether you could shed any light on the "Raymond Jones" story - was he a real person or was he invented by Alistair Taylor (and possibly Brian Epstein)?

AL :-)

Bump!

Raymond Jones actuially existed. He was one of several people who went into Nems to ask about the Beatles record which had dominated the entire front page of issue No. 2 of Mersey Beat in July 1961. Paul McCartney had brought me a copy of the single from Germany and he also gave a copy to Bob Wooler, who played it locally. Brian Epstein, my record reviewer in Mersey Beat from issue No. 3 used to drop into the Mersey Beat office with his adverts, which went on the same pages as Beatles features, he'd come into the office with a present for Virginia after a visit to Amsterdam and took me to lunch at the Basnett Bar in Basnett Street on two occasions to discuss what was happening on the local scene. Every time I visited Nems to drop in the latest issue, he'd invite me into his office to discuss it. Therefore, i was suprised when, in his autobiography, he made out that he'd only heard of the Beatles when a lad came into his shop to order the single later that year. I'd been discussing them with him for months and he was aware of them, not only from Mersey Beat but for the fact that they dropped into Nems regularly in the afternoons after their lunchtime sessions at the Cavern and he asked the girls on his staff about them. This can also be confirmed by Pete Best.
Bob Barroch is another person who asked for the record at Nems. He said he asked for it before Jones because Paul McCartney told him about it at the Cavern.
Alistair Taylor did claim that he was Raymond Jones, but this is not so. Raymond Jones now lives in Spain. But his only relevance to the Beatles story would be if Brian had never heard of the group before his enquiry. This is not so. I was the first person ever to discuss the local scene with Brian and that was in July 1961 - and it can all be proven in black and white in the pages of Mersey Beat.
Why Brian decided to put the story in his book is probably because it sounds a lot better that saying he discovered them via Mersey Beat. I was also the one who arranged his visit to the Cavern. He phoned me up and asked if I could smooth the way. He didn't want to have to stand in a queue with youngsters and pay at the door. So I phoned Ray McFall and arranged it for Brian.

Thanks for setting the record straight Bill :-)

Thanks, Bill. It's great to have you share your memories with us.:)

Nice one Bill. ;)

Bill, where can I find an overview of your books? And are they all still available?

Gosh I love when you post Bill!!

Virtually none of my books is currently available. I'm afraid they never got the distribution that other similar books get. My book with Pete Best, 'The Best Years Of The Beatles', gives a completely different insight into Pete's life than the previous book 'Beatle!' and is quite lavishly illustrated, but it was only published in Britain and soon went out of print. I believe copies are still available from Pete Best's own site and I asked Roag to request all the original film of the book from the publisher. I spent about 20 years compiling my encyclopedias, but apart from 'The Beatles Encyclopedia', which was originally published in America by Hyperion, the rest had little distribution in the States. They include the revised edition of the Encyclopedia and the encyclopedias on George, John, Paul and Ringo.
The books on George, Paul and Ringo are still available at http://www.merseybeat.co.uk at less than half their original price - and signed!
I've had bad luck with my books - lots of times the corrections I made were never done. In a book with 500,000 words and hundreds of dates, occasionally a printer would put 1968 when it would be 1962 and so on - and although I'd correct the proofs, often they wouldn't be corrected. With the original encyclopedia all the reviews of Beatles publications weren't used, all my colour photos of the Beatles were lost with the publisher, with the revised edition the publisher lost 40,000 words - and so on. With my original Mersey Beat book in 1977 I didn't get my set of original copies of Mersey Beat back, so I went to the publishers office and found them spread across some shelves in the basement - with half of the issues missing!
For an insight into author's publishing problems, I now give authors a forum to write about their books themselves in the 'Rock Books' section of http://www.merseybeat.co.uk

Thanks Bill. Great publisher you got there!  :-/

Quoted from Bill Harry

I've had bad luck with my books - lots of times the corrections I made were never done. In a book with 500,000 words and hundreds of dates, occasionally a printer would put 1968 when it would be 1962 and so on - and although I'd correct the proofs, often they wouldn't be corrected. With the original encyclopedia all the reviews of Beatles publications weren't used, all my colour photos of the Beatles were lost with the publisher, with the revised edition the publisher lost 40,000 words - and so on. With my original Mersey Beat book in 1977 I didn't get my set of original copies of Mersey Beat back, so I went to the publishers office and found them spread across some shelves in the basement - with half of the issues missing!
For an insight into author's publishing problems, I now give authors a forum to write about their books themselves in the 'Rock Books' section of http://www.merseybeat.co.uk

I suspect your case is probably not all that unusual. That in itself deserves some sort of publication.

Ugh! That's scandalous, how they abused your original material! And not making your corrections after the labor of proofing-- I bet you bit a nail in two.

I have published books on occasion as well. I had to retire a children's book I was shopping round because the publisher lost the beautiful and expensive color photos of the illustrations, and the struggling artist couldn't afford to do a reshoot. One of my books was published with a great chunk duplicated and another section missing-- and the publisher wouldn't recall it! I had to wait for people to write me so I could supply good copies from my stock. Just think of how many people didn't write, and threw away the defective book!

I'll drop into your author's forum sometime-- when I can stand the pain! Cheers.