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The Beatles in Hamburg: The Stories, the Scene and How It All Began - By Spencer Leigh - $14 - See it on Amazon!
"...This is the definitive, fully illustrated account of the crucial early years of the world's most influential rock 'n' roll band - and of the city that catapulted them to international stardom. It is the first book to recount the complete story of their experiences there- no other fully-illustrated book on the subject exists. It is also the first book to be produced in official association with the Beatlemania museum in Hamburg. Features numerous fresh anecdotes and stories about The Beatles' time in Hamburg along with a wealth of previously unpublished quotes and interviews from those who were there at the time. Features interviews with fellow musicians, business associates, audience members, fans, friends and family members involved with The Beatles during the period 1960 - 1962 when they were regularly playing in Hamburg and for their return Blitztournee tour in 1966. Includes specially photographed items of memorabilia from the Beatlemania museum along with previously unpublished articles from the archives of various Hamburg newspapers. ..."

Echos of Hamburg... The Beatles and The British Beat Before the Beginning (1960-1962) - by Hans Olof Gottfridsson - Not released yet! See the author on Facebook for more info. Hans wrote the monster books 'The Beatles From Cavern To Star Club' and 'Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days' that came in the CD box set "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days".

Of the two authors, Spencer Leigh and Hans Olof Gottfridsson, the one I’m most familiar with is Spencer Leigh.

He was born and still lives in the Liverpool area. While originally a journalist by training, Spencer Leigh currently works on a free lance basis. He also hosts a regular Saturday evening radio program on BBC Radio Merseyside called “On the Beat”.

For a full list of BBC Radio Merseyside “On the Beat” broadcasts, including guests, program details, etc, since first being aired on Saturday, 5th January 2008 see ….

http://www.spencerleigh.demon.co.uk/radio.htm

… also listed is a schedule of upcoming programs.

Occasionally, Spencer Leigh will have some interesting guests on if they happen to be passing through Liverpool but (in my opinion) most of the time the general program content is nothing special.

While I no longer live on Merseyside, nevertheless I’m a regular online listener to the program using the listen again option available for 7 days after the broadcast on the BBC iPlayer see …

http://www.bbc.co.uk/merseyside/program ... 2011/06/04

During the past month or so Spencer Leigh has been talking his book up over the airwaves about Hamburg and the Beatles and the amount of research that went into it. Apparently, he went over to Hamburg with a tape recorder and recorded hours and hours of interviews. He has said that he’ll be broadcasting a selection of these interviews on a special edition of “On the Beat” – but following the publication of his book, he’s still in the process of editing them into broadcastable form, so a definite date for the program has yet to be fixed. In the meantime, I’ll just have to keep checking the program schedules for a date.