Life of a Beatle - the biography of Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney: The Biography, Philip Norman, Orion, pbk, 864 pages, €19.99

In the driving seat: McCartney, pictured astride his motorbike in 1965, tried to lead the band in the wake of Brian Epstein's death.

Damian Corless

Paul McCartney's choice for biographer surprised everyone, even the writer himself, says our reviewer.

Upon the release of Wings' 1977 bagpipe dirge 'Mull of Kintyre', the Sunday Times let fly a volley of verse against the ex-Beatle. It ended: "Oh, deified scouse with unmusical spouse/For the cliches and cloy you unload/To an anodyne tune may they bury you soon/In the middlemost midst of the road."