One Two Three Four | Craig Brown

One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time | Craig Brown

From the award-winning author of Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography of the Fab Four.

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize's 25th Anniversary Winner of Winners Award | Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize 2020

• A Spectator Book of the Year
• A Times Book of the Year
• A Telegraph Book of the Year
• A Sunday Times Book of the Year

About the Book:

John Updike compared them to 'the sun coming out on an Easter morning'. Bob Dylan introduced them to drugs. The Duchess of Windsor adored them. Noel Coward despised them. JRR Tolkien snubbed them. The Rolling Stones copied them. Leonard Bernstein admired them. Muhammad Ali called them 'little sissies'. Successive Prime Ministers sucked up to them. No one has remained unaffected by the music of The Beatles.

As Queen Elizabeth II observed on her golden wedding anniversary, 'Think what we would have missed if we had never heard The Beatles.'

One Two Three Four traces the chance fusion of the four key elements that made up The Beatles: fire (John), water (Paul), air (George) and earth (Ringo). It also tells the bizarre and often unfortunate tales of the disparate and colourful people within their orbit, among them Fred Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Maharishi, Aunt Mimi, Helen Shapiro, the con artist Magic Alex, Phil Spector, their psychedelic dentist John Riley and their failed nemesis, Det Sgt Norman Pilcher.

From the bestselling author of Ma'am Darling comes a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories. One Two Three Four joyfully echoes the frenetic hurly-burly of an era.

Summary:

One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time is a non-fiction book written by satirist Craig Brown about the English rock band the Beatles. The book was published by 4th Estate on 10 April 2020, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the announcement of the group's break-up.

Frequently Asked Questions About One Two Three Four:

• Q: Is this book a traditional chronological biography of the Beatles?
  A: No. Instead of delivering a standard, linear timeline, this book uses an innovative "exploded biography" layout. It functions as a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining mixture of fan letters, party lists, parallel timelines, diaries, and micro-histories that capture the entire sensory whirlwind of the Beatlemania era.
• Q: Did this book win any major literary awards or historical accolades?
  A: Yes. This work is highly celebrated in the literary community and won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Critics and judges widely praised it as a profound, joyous, and incredibly unique masterpiece exploring the realities of immense success and sudden cultural shifts.
• Q: Does the narrative focus only on the band members or does it include other figures?
  A: The book expands far beyond John, Paul, George, and Ringo. It profiles a fascinating, often bizarre cast of secondary characters caught in their massive gravity field—including their tragic manager Brian Epstein, Yoko Ono, their failed legal nemesis Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, and even historical figures like J.R.R. Tolkien, Muhammad Ali, and the Queen.
• Q: What unique writing style and background authority does the author bring to the text?
  A: The book is written by Craig Brown, a legendary British satirist, critic, and award-winning author of 18 books. His signature writing style combines deeply thorough archival research with a sharp, wicked wit and parodic humor, ensuring the historical text reads more like an addictive, hilarious social anthropology study than a dry music textbook.
• Q: Why should a reader choose this book over the hundreds of other Beatles books available?
  A: While most texts fixate on basic recording logs and familiar studio trivia, Craig Brown examines how the Beatles systematically altered the entire world around them. It studies the psychology of mass obsession, how the band warped the social rules of the 1960s, and the profound, lingering impact their cultural explosion left on modern global society.

About the Author:

Craig Brown: Critic & Satirist

Craig Brown's last book, Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret won both the James Tait Black Prize for Biography and the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Literature. His previous book, One on One, was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson prize for Non-Fiction.

He has been writing the parodic celebrity diary for Private Eye magazine for over thirty years, and is currently a columnist for the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. Over the years, he has written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines, including Vanity Fair, the Sunday Times, the New Statesman, the Spectator, the Guardian and the New York Review of Books.

He lives in Aldeburgh, Suffolk with his wife Frances Welch; they have two children.

Bibliographic Data:

• Full Title: One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time (Alternative Title: 1-2-3-4: The Beatles in Time)
• Author(s): Craig Brown
• Publisher & Imprint: 4th Estate / Fourth Estate (An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
• Publication Date: April 10, 2020 (Hardcover First Edition Profile)
• Binding Format: Hardcover (With Dust Jacket)
• Condition: Pre-Owned / Very Good
• Edition: 1
• Print Length: 656 Pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 9780008340001
• ISBN-10: 0008340005
• Library of Congress (LCCN): 2020438928
• Primary Genre (BISAC): BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Music
• Sub-Genres (BISAC): MUSIC / History & Criticism; HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century; MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Rock
• Dimensions: 6.26 x 1.73 x 9.45 inches (15.9 x 4.4 x 24.0 cm)
• Weight: 34.6 oz (approx. 2.16 lbs / 980g)

Grab Your Copy!

A kaleidoscopic, brilliantly witty look at the band that changed the world. Craig Brown mixes history, parodies, and fan lore into a masterful biography.