How The Beatles' love story shaped the 20th Century
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
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Summary
A fateful meeting at a village fête "tilted" the 20th Century "on its axis"
So argues Ian Leslie in his new book, John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs.
In the book, Leslie argues that The Beatles didn't just dominate pop culture - they redefined how we see ourselves.
He reframes the relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney as a kind of love story, which shaped the second half of the 20th Century and continues to influence us today.
Leslie joins Kate Mossman on Culture from the New Statesman to discuss the book, The Beatles and their legacy.
John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs is available from March 27 in book shops and online. Pre-order it here*
The author Deborah Levy has reviewed the book for New Statesman. Her review is available to read online now, and will appear in the March 20 issue of the New Statesman magazine.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Beatles were crucial to the creation of a post-1960s personality, curious, tolerant, |
| 0:07.0 | self-ironising, unaffected, both feminine and masculine. |
| 0:13.0 | That's a quote from a new book by Ian Leslie, which argues that the Beatles didn't just dominate pop culture. |
| 0:19.0 | They redefined how we see ourselves. |
| 0:22.1 | In John and Paul a love story in songs, |
| 0:24.8 | Leslie reframes the relationship between Lennon and McCartney |
| 0:27.5 | as a kind of love affair, |
| 0:29.4 | one that shaped the second half of the 20th century |
| 0:31.8 | and continues to influence us today. |
| 0:35.2 | This is culture from the new statesman. |
| 0:41.1 | I'm Kate Mossman, and I'm joined in the studio today by Ian Leslie. Hello Ian. Hello Kate. How are you doing? Very well, thank you. Now, in the opening |
| 0:45.6 | chapter of this wonderful book, you described the fateful first meeting between John Lennon and Paul |
| 0:50.8 | McCartney. Where was that? And when did it take place? It took place in Liverpool, |
| 0:57.3 | in a suburb of Liverpool called Walton, where John Lennon lived. Very nice, quite a sort of middle-class |
| 1:05.2 | suburb. And they had a lovely village fit every year. And John was in a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. |
| 1:15.1 | He was asked, and they were asked to perform at the fate in the church and the churchyard. |
| 1:20.8 | And Paul was invited, Paul hadn't met John by this stage, he was invited along to see the group and to meet John by a mutual friend. |
| 1:29.8 | And so the first time he sees John or really kind of looks at John is when John is on stage, on the back of a truck, |
| 1:41.5 | blasting out these skiffle songs in a churchyard in Walton. |
| 1:45.3 | Actually performing that point. |
| 1:47.1 | And how old were they? |
| 1:47.9 | 14, 15? |
... |
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