In their prime, the Beatles and Ian Fleming’s James Bond books were the United Kingdom’s most successful exports. In 1964, the Fab Four sold 25 million records in the United States. Fleming died the same year, having sold over 30 million novels. Fleming, like the Beatles, became a popular figure in the American market. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy named “From Russia with Love” as one of his favorite books, and Fleming’s sales skyrocketed in the United States.
Over the years, our infatuation with Bond and the Beatles has grown stronger. Bond, of course, is the main character in a multibillion-dollar film franchise. Fans of the worldwide spy will enjoy Nicholas Shakespeare’s “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man.” Shakespeare also delves deeply into Fleming’s personal life and its parallels to Bond’s well-known fondness for romantic sports. Shakespeare emphasizes Fleming’s tormented attachment (and one-time engagement) to Monique Panchaud de Bottens. Fleming ended his connection with Monique after his mother threatened to disinherit him, an act that would haunt him for the rest of his life with feelings of grief and misery. Shakespeare’s research cites Fleming’s friend Ernest Cuneo, who recognized the origins of Bond’s womanizing nature in Fleming’s ill-fated romance with Monique. “It appears to me,” observed Cuneo, “that James Bond epitomizes Ian’s wrath for the awful injury; Bond tumbles them into bed, leaves them with the recollection of a furious ravishment, which, ye gods, leaves them craving for Bond eternally.
And then there are the Fabs. While many of Beatles-related books have been published, one of the most well-known, aside from Albert Goldman’s “The Lives of John Lennon” (1988), was “The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles” (1983). The scandalous book, written by Beatles insider Peter Brown and journalist Steven Gaines, became a success during a period when new information about the band was limited. Brown and Gaines’ book “The Love You Make” became a hit, thanks in large part to its lurid and provocative material.
The former Beatles saw the book as an inexcusable betrayal on Brown’s behalf, especially considering his once-famous status in their inner circle. Paul McCartney was very upset, excoriating the book as This leads us to Brown and Gaines’ “All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words.” Brown and Gaines’ latest book, subtitled “Unpublished, Unvarnished, and Told by the Beatles and Their Inner Circle,” contributes significantly to the historical record. While the passage of four decades makes “The Love You Make” appear positively old, “All You Need Is Love” provides readers with a feast of fresh information.
“All You Need Is Love” is made up of transcripts from interviews conducted by Brown and Gaines in support of their work on “The Love You Make,” and it features the band members and their circle in rare moments of unmediated frankness. Crucially, the majority of the interviews were conducted before John Lennon’s terrible death.
