Green Apple Radio

George Burton talks with Glasgow author Ken McNab about his new book "The Beatles In Scotland"

The decision to break up The Beatles’ legal partnership was taken on the beaches of the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. That’s according to a new book The Beatles in Scotland by author Ken McNab. He reveals how McCartney's Scottish retreat saved him from a nervous breakdown during those dark, agonising days and his love affair with Scotland is fully revealed with interviews from the locals who know him best.
The book takes us on a journey to uncover the perhaps surprising role Scotland played in the development of the group before and during its lifespan. That and the continued role the country has played within the world’s most celebrated band. The book tells the story of the band’s association with Scotland from a time when they were complete unknowns during their first tour in 1960, through the Scottish leg of their UK tours and to the revelation that the decision to break the group up was taken north of the border. He also explores the personal connections band members had with the country, from John Lennon’s childhood holidays in Durness, George Harrison’s visits to the Isle of Skye to the McCartney’s bolt hole on the Mull of Kintyre all illustrated using new interviews with members of the band’s inner sanctum to reveal previously unheard stories.
McNab discloses how the Scottish Highlands would open up John Lennon’s creative mind and fuel his desire to become an artist, and how the area provided an escape and a stark contrast to the austere background and grime of post war Liverpool. He also tells the untold story of the Scottish Beatle, whose birthright has been largely airbrushed out of the band’s history. Original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe was born in Edinburgh and was one of Lennon’s closest and most influential friends. It was Stuart who gave the band their name and it was he who was pivotal in introducing the famous Beatle hairstyle. Sutcliffe, who has since been hailed as one the great painters of his generation died aged just 21 and only months before the group began their journey proper, en route to their destination as the biggest band in the world. McNab investigates Sutcliffe’s family origins exposing a strong Scottish connection and explores the lasting influence he continued to have on the Beatles.

The first Beatles tours were in Scotland, and this book gives the background story of how they cut their teeth in locations such as Alloa, Peterhead, Forres and Nairn as they criss-crossed the Highlands in a beat up old van in May 1960. Unbelievably, the author has tracked down some of these original fans who saw the band play at these very gigs and their memories provide a powerful insight into what those shows were actually like. The book also reveals for the first time how Scotland was at the forefront of Beatlemania before the rest of the UK by telling the story of all of the band's Scottish concerts from 1963 through to the end of their touring days in 1965. Again, backed up with eye-witness accounts from police officers, ambulance workers, press photographers and theatre bouncers, he paints a unique picture of the madness that accompanied shows in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Also, in a series of exclusive interviews, Ken McNab talks to the many Scottish personalities who were part of the band's inner sanctum during and beyond the heady days of Beatlemania. These include Lulu, Donovan, Sir Jackie Stewart, Hamish Stuart, Marmalade, Gallagher and Lyle and a host of other Scots who hitched a ride on the Beatle bandwagon.
The book will also include a number of never-before-seen pictures of the group as well as intimate private photographs illustrating how The Beatles really did love Scotland.
This then, as told by Ken McNab, is Scotland’s role in the story as four boys from Liverpool conquered the world.

I caught up with Ken to get some more on his book The Beatles in Scotland.

copyright © 2008 Burton Production Ltd (UK)