MAJOR NEWS: In November 2022, as part of the wonderful ROGAN PRODUCTIONS team, Keith won an INTERNATIONAL EMMY, and ROSE d' OR, award for the OFFICIAL documentary, FREDDIE MERCURY: THE FINAL ACT, so proud...

BREAKING NEWS! 05/02/20 - Marilyn TV drama series, based on Keith's definitive biography, The Final Years, major new development, Seven Seas Films (in the UK) have teamed up with 101 Studios in Los Angeles... The production will be the very first to be endorsed by the Marilyn Monroe Estate... More news soon, Watch this space!!...

Friday 23 November 2012

October 2012

(30) Union Chapel, Highbury & Islington, London – Our intrepid, life-long Monkees fan was perched high up in the balcony, stage-right, for a 8:00pm performance by the group’s legendary singer/ songwriter, Michael Nesmith, one which concluded his brief, 4-date concert tour of the UK. After the truly superb 90-minute show, which included solo Papa Nes classics such as ‘Rio’, ‘Joanna’ and ‘Silver Moon’, Keith suddenly found himself among a throng of fellow Arsenal FC supporters (in a local Highbury boozer) to watch the club’s incredible comeback from 4-0 down to 7-5 victors over Reading in the Capital One Cup.

(25) Farnham Road, Slough, Berks – Keith was among the studio audience at a taping of BBCTV’s political debate programme, Question Time at The Centre, in Slough. (Unfortunately, the question he had prepared for the panel that night wasn’t chosen.)

On the same day – the Book Charts on Amazon in Italy reveal Gli ultimi giorni di Marilyn Monroe: Le relazioni pericolose, le trappole, il presunto suicidio: tutta la verità sulla finehad returned to the No.2 spot in the ‘Bestsellers Cinema e Television’ section on the site.

(22) Odeon, Leicester Square, West End, London – Our Mr Badman was seen strutting-up the Red Carpet tonight (I kid you not) at the World Premiere of the new Status Quo movie, Hello Quo!, which was directed by his long-time pal and associate, Alan G. Parker. (It’s a truly great production – go and see it… or at least buy the Blu-ray of it!) Following the two-and-a-half-hour screening, Keith was present at the Q&A sessions with the band themselves, which was conducted by the broadcaster, Paul Gambaccini.

(16) BBCTV, England – The highly-praised documentary, Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, which featured archive research by Keith, was premiered this evening on BBC1 in the UK, as part of their Arena features strand.

(11) British Library, Euston Road, London – Keith was among the especially-invited guests for the launch of The John Lennon Letters, the new book by official Beatles biographer, Hunter Davies. Following a talk by the author and a screening of a previously unseen December 1968 home movie of Paul, Linda, Hunter and his family holidaying in Portugal, the assembled crowd excitedly listened to a short speech by the legendary, Yoko Ono. Not wishing to miss an opportunity, once her talk had concluded, our Mr Badman reached out, politely shook her hand and said “It’s a great pleasure to meet you.” (Keith had actually encountered her for the first time back in 1988, during a Lennon photo exhibition at London’s Art & Design Centre.)

(9) Windsor, Berkshire (in the shadow of Windsor Castle) – Here’s one for the “You just couldn’t make it up” department. At approximately 3:40pm, during a fairly routine visit to Windsor, Keith turned into the town’s King Edward Court shopping centre, found him amongst a huge throng of people and… approximately 6-feet away from Her Majesty The Queen (“who doesn’t have a lot to say,” Lennon& McCartney 1969). For the inquisitive among you, she was there to inaugurate a highly-impressive, Diamond Jubilee monument designed by the 15-year-old schoolgirl, Caroline Basra.

(5) BBC Caversham Park, Reading – With the country (and, in fact the world) celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ first EMI single, ‘Love Me Do’, Keith was a guest to talk about the landmark occasion on a couple of BBC stations, the most notable being Radio Berkshire’s Tony Blackburn’s Weekend Warm-Up show (between 12:04 and 12:44pm), hosted, as you’ll guess, by the broadcasting legend, the “sensational” Tony Blackburn.

Thursday 15 November 2012

September 2012

(27) Berkshire/ London, England – With the legendary American super-group, The Beach Boys about to play two gigs in London (at the Albert Hall and Wembley respectively), Keith was a guest today talking about the concerts on several BBC Radio shows. On the 28th, he was present in the audience at the band’s sell-out gig at Wembley.

(20) London, Europe, America, rest of World - Press Release: 'Hungarian Rhapsody Coming To The Big Screen’. As the issue says, Queen’s Concert Movie, Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live In Budapest ‘86 was released to the Big Screen for the first time from September 20. The film was expected to play on screens in over 30 territories worldwide. In the UK it was screened in all the major cities, around 100 cinemas nationwide. The accompanying short, a 29-minute documentary on the group’s 1986 Magic Tour, featured archive research by Keith. (Both films will be issued on DVD, Blu-Ray and in deluxe editions, for the first time, on November 5. The title of the release is, Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live In Budapest.)

(13) London various – Busy night, with visits to the Proud Gallery (Chelsea) to see photographer, Terry Neill’s new James Bond exhibition and then, later that evening, a trip to the annual Jazz Festival at Imperial Wharf, to see a stunning performance by Courtney Pine. (Thanks Dan for another top evening!)

(12) Book Charts – Canada: Marilyn Monroe – The Final Years reached No.2 in the ‘Best Selling Marilyn Monroe’ biographies section and No.7 in the ‘Movies’ biographies category on Amazon Canada.

(5) Book Charts – Italy: Yet another Number one! The kindle edition of Gli ultimi giorni di Marilyn Monroe: Le relazioni pericolose, le trappole, il presunto suicidio: tutta la verità sulla fine reached the Top Spot (yes! No.1!) in the ‘Bestseller in Cinema e Television’ section on Amazon Italy (and the No.10 position in the Marilyn Monroe category on the site).

(6) BAFTA, Piccadilly, London – The Rhys Thomas produced and directed documentary, Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (on which, Keith was the chief archive researcher), received its World Premier at the BAFTAs in London.

Record Collector round-up – Subjects in Keith’s regular column, ‘Rockin’ The Box’ have (and will) included The Bee Gees’ 1972 appearance on 2Gs and The Pop People (August 2012 issue), The Beatles at the Cavern Club (September), A Tribute to Jon Lord of Deep Purple (October), Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull – November), Elton John (December) and the Pilot episode of Supersonic (from March 1975) in the special Christmas edition of the mag.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

August 2012

(26) Liverpool, England – With immense honour, for more years than he cares to remember, and with promotions for Marilyn taking a very short respite, Keith once more took change of the 11-hour video presentation at Liverpool’s Annual Beatles Convention, Europe’s biggest, by far!  Prior to the start of it, our Mr Badman (after several years of trying) finally got round to partaking in an interview with Pete Dicks, of the great radio show, Beatles And Beyond. (A big thanks must go to Bill, Dave, Ray, Victoria, Ian e al of Cavern City Tours for a most wonderful weekend. Thank you all!)

(18) Boston, Massachusetts, USA – Keith’s interview with Lauren Daley is published in the ‘Booklovers’ section of today’s edition of the South Coast Today newspaper. The lengthy, two-page, cover-story piece, entitled, “Biography reveals more about Marilyn,” unsurprisingly focused on his book about the actress. (Thanks, Lauren! Top work all round.)  Click here to read it.

(18) Meanwhile, on the same day – Keith’s book on the screen legend returned to the Number One spot in the ‘Biographies & People’ section on Amazon Canada!! (What an absolute honour!!) The good news didn’t end there. Concurrently, the publication was also to be found at No.5 in both the ‘Movies & Biographies’ and ‘History & Criticism’ sections on the site.

(10) Book Charts – Canada: Impressive sales in the country result in the UK paperback edition of The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe – The True Story reaching the No.2 position in the 'Marilyn Biographies' section on Amazon Canada.

(6) Book Charts – Canada: A truly triumphant day in the country for Keith’s book when charts on  Amazon Canada reveal Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years is at No.1 (yes, Number One!) in both the ‘Film, History & Criticism’ and ‘Movie Biographies’ section and No.2 in the ‘Marilyn Monroe Biographies’ section.

(5) USA, various – The 50th Anniversary of Marilyn’s tragic death naturally focused in numerous papers and magazines, unsurprisingly, most in America and Canada; many of which chose the event to review the latest batch of books on the actress, including Keith’s.

With immense honour, his book, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years received a mention by Adam Tschorn, the Staff Writer of the highly-respectable, Los Angeles Times. It didn’t end there; a review of the publication (by Mindy Aloff) also appeared today, in the mighty ‘Book World’ section of The Washington Post. “The effect of Badman's meticulous spadework,” Aloff wrote, “is that the reader feels compelled to give him the benefit of the doubt when he makes some of the book's more salacious claims and assertions…” (Just how cool is that?)

Reviews (and mentions) also appeared in Vanity Fair and in syndications by the Associated Press (AP). Further praise for the Marilyn book came in The Library Journal newspaper: “He painstakingly examines day-to-day events, sorting through fact and myth to uncover the real story.”

While in the UK, a plug for the publication also appeared in the Grazia Entertainment magazine (in the edition dated, July 31 – August). At the same time, in China today, Keith’s, full-page interview with Sylvia Gong was published in Modern Weekly, the country’s first and only full color, glossy, newspaper and fashion magazine, which boasts a 1.5 million circulation and a 1.99 million readership. Modern Weekly is China’s most popular print media of the elite.

MSNBC TV Studios, New York – Due to logistical problems, Keith’s last-minute appearance on the MSNBC breakfast show this morning, to talk about both Marilyn and his book, failed to materialise.

(4) Detroit, USA – On the eve of Monroe’s landmark anniversary, Keith was a special guest on WJR Talk Radio’s, Warren Pierce Show in Detroit.  Immensely influential, WJR is heard in 38 States and half of Canada. (The 25-minute interview began place at 8:10am Local Time/ 1:10pm London. Thank you Gents, for your hospitality and truly kind invite!)

(3) USA online – Keith’s piece, ‘Marilyn Monroe: Fifty Years On...And Still An Icon’ was published online today by the highly-respected, Huffington Post. With immense honour, he was chosen to be the paper’s guest-blogger about the 50th anniversary of the actress’s tragic passing. Read it here. (Many thanks to Keith’s American publicist, Stephanie for arranging this.) The Huffington Post’s actual review of Keith’s book was equally good: “A meticulously detailed look at the year and a half leading up to Marilyn's death.”

Craig Wilson’s interview with Keith, along with a plug for his book was syndicated across America and appeared today in various papers (both online and in hardcopies), including (the mighty!) USA Today, The Winnipeg Free Press, The Sun Times, WBIR.Com News, The Province.Com, The Spec.Com, Guelph Mercury.Com, The Mercury.Com, The Record.Com, amongst others. All of which, contained one of Keith’s quote, most notably, “Many women wanted to be her, and many men wanted to be with her.”

(2) USA online – With the 50th Anniversary of Marilyn’s death edging ever nearer, newspaper and magazine coverage of her passing begins to intensify, with Keith’s book featuring (most proudly and prominently) in much of the coverage, beginning today with Tony Mostrom’s review of the tome in The LA Weekly.

“Badman's book,” he writes, “prides himself on both debunking and confirming several decades-old rumors and conspiratorial chestnuts, particularly the Kennedy kind. While acknowledging that Monroe most likely had a Don Draper-worthy one-night stand with the president in Palm Springs in 1962, he proves the impossibility of other alleged liaisons between the two, with well-documented specifics that earlier biographers should have caught. The author's triumphant verdict: one bonk but no affair.” The succinct piece, entitled, “New Marilyn Monroe Biography Says Her Death Was an Accident and JFK Was Just a One-Night Stand,” summed-up Keith’s book quite brilliantly.

Book Charts – America: On the same day, the 2nd, the two versions of Keith’s book cracked the Amazon.com charts; the hardback edition reached No.2 and the kindle version No.7.

(1) Book Charts - Italy – Impressive pre-orders on Amazon in Italy of that country’s hardback version of the book, Gli ultimi giorni di Marilyn Monroe: Le relazioni pericolose, le trappole, il presunto suicidio: tutta la verità sulla fine sees the publication reach the No.6 position in the ‘Bestseller in Cinema e Television’ section.