Standing in the Wings

The Beatles, Brian Epstein and Me

Joe Flannery, Mike Brocken, Dr Mike Brocken, Mike Brocken

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN:
  9780752492933
• Print ISBN:
  9780750987608
  9780752490090
• Subtopic: Music

Joe Flannery has been described as the 'Secret Beatle', and as the business associate and partner of Brian Epstein, he became an integral part of The Beatles' management team during their rise to fame in the early 1960s. Standing in the Wings is Flannery's account of this fascinating era, which included the controversial dismissal of Pete Best from the group (nothing to do with London, but matters back in Liverpool), Brian Epstein's fragility, and the importance of the Star Club in Hamburg. This book is not simply a biography, as it also considers issues to do with sexuality in 1950s Liverpool, the vagaries of the music business at that time and the hazards of personal management in the 'swinging sixties'. At its heart, Standing in the Wings provides an in-depth look at Flannery's personal and professional relationship with Epstein and his close links with the Fab Four. Shortly before John Lennon's murder in 1980, it was Flannery who was one of the last people in the UK to talk to the great man. Indeed, Flannery remains one of the few 'Beatle people' in Liverpool to have the respect of the surviving Beatles, and this is reflected in this timely and revealing book.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Philip Norman
• Introduction by Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool
• 1 Early Childhood: ‘If you don’t Kick a Football, you’ll Get your Head Kicked-in’
• 2 Ivor Novello’s Poodles
• 3 A Dutiful Engagement and National Service
• 4 One or Two Home Truths
• 5 ‘Don’t worry Mr Loss, I won’t Let you down’
• 6 The Life of Brian plus Teenage Rebels and Further Detours
• 7 Jack Good, Lee Curtis and Even More Detours
• 8 The Beatles at Gardner Road, Brian Epstein and Merseybeat
• 9 The Beginning of the Parting of the Ways and the Pete Best Affair
• 10 The Very Root of Meaning
• 11 Germany Calling
• 12 Liverbirds in Love: The Decline and Fall of Carlton Brooke
• 13 This is the End, Beautiful Friend
• Postscript ‘Excuse me, Mr Lennon, a Mr Flannery’s on the Phone’
• Appendix A Mayfield Records Discography
• Plates
• Copyright