1. A Day In The Life

John and Paul’s very different characters were key to the Beatles’ success.

Decades later, the National Trust attempts to bottle the magic by recreating their childhood homes.

Craig Brown presents a series of kaleidoscopic glimpses of the Beatles through time.

Drawing on interviews, diaries, anecdotes, memoirs and gossip, he offers an entertaining series of vignettes that capture the mood of an era.

It’s a journey that takes us from 9th November 1961 when Brian Epstein first heard the four young men in a sweaty basement, via their mop top haircuts, to the jaw-dropping prices paid for the most trivial of memorabilia.

And along the way there is the music, always the exuberant, the playful and ever-changing music.

Written by Craig Brown.

Read by Mark McGann, Kate Robbins and Craig Brown.

Abridged in five parts by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2021.

*** Broadcast on 4 Extra to mark the 60th anniversary of the Beatles first universal chart number 1, From Me To You, in May 1963.