August 2014

(31) Canada – The month ends with Marilyn (paperback edition) returning again to the top spot in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site. (“Roll on September!”)

(30) Canada – A cracking end to the month when, on the penultimate day of August, Keith’s Marilyn raced back to the No.1 position in two, yes two different charts on Amazon.ca. In total, in their Bestsellers charts today, the book was seen at:
#1 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn (Paid Kindle Store)
#1 in Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn (paperback)
#4 in Books > Humour & Entertainment > Movies > Biographies (Paid Kindle Store)
#11 in Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Entertainers (Paid Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks)
Quite simply…Wow! Beating him in the “Books > Humour & Entertainment > Movies > Biographies” chart were publications on Jane Fonda, Rob Lowe and Lee Grant, amongst others.

- Keith celebrated the stupendous news by spending the evening in the fine surroundings of the Barratt Bistro in Sunny Slough in the company of top chap, Richard and the mighty-fine, bon-Viv ere, John Barratt… a finer cook, you will not find… (except my dear, Mum, of course!)…

(29) Canada – Still there, at the top spot in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada. Incredible! With stocks still depleted, shipping for the paperback edition was estimated at between 2 and 5 weeks.

- Leafy Berkshire – Work continued on the new Beatles and David Essex projects. (“All go here, ya know!”)

(28) Canada – Still there, at #1 in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada. Stocks of the book are still out on the site too! While over on Amazon Italy, the kindle version of the book could be found at n.22 in the “eBook Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” section of the site.

- Leafy Berkshire - Work resumed today on the David Essex documentary and Keith’s new Beatles book, which is being co-written with Spencer Leigh, David Bedford and the official Beatles biographer, Hunter Davies, is still set for release around the world in mid-2016.

(27) Canada – On the rise yet again! On Amazon Canada, Keith’s Marilyn could be found (get ready) at the #1 spot in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section, #6 in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” area, at #58 in the “Humour & Entertainment > Movies > Biographies” section and at #97 in the “Humour & Entertainment > Movies > History & Criticism” areas of the site. Not bad aye, for a book that first appeared in that country over 2 years ago!!

(21-26) Berkshire / Liverpool – With the annual Beatles Convention fast approaching, Keith’s great American friend, Robert Boyer arrived in Sunny Slough. Fine English hospitality and delightful Indian food followed. Keith travelled to Liverpool for the event, during the morning of Saturday, August 23 to present the video show at the annual event. He would like thank (in no particular order), Victoria, Ian, Billy, Dave, Ray, Steve, Anne-Marie, Neville, Michael, John, etc. etc. etc. and to Cavern City Tours for, once more, making him feel so welcome and loved. Thank you all!

The video presentation was, once again a tremendous success, in particular the Liverpool premiere of the movie, Good Ol’ Freda and the Q&A which followed with the film's producer, Kathy McCabe and Freda, the star of the movie herself. The room was totally and utterly packed!! Keith also made an unexpected (dragged more like) appearance on one of the teams at the Eggheads game, where he and his fellow Beatles-fans found themselves pitting their wits against a team comprising of, amongst others, Cavern City Tours’ Bill Heckle, and Beady Eye’s drummer, Chris Sharrock. The worst team won! (“Good meeting you too, Chris!”) A splendid time was had by one and all!

(20) Canada – On the rise yet again! Keith’s Marilyn climbed to the #13 position in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section of the Amazon Bestsellers list on Amazon Canada. It didn’t end there. By late afternoon, it had risen again and reached the #1 position in the “Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( M ) > Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site again and the #8 spot in the “Humour & Entertainment > Movies > Biographies” section of the site! Amazing!

(19) Covent Garden, Central London – Arranged by director, Alan G. Parker, at 11am, Keith attended a business meeting with Frank Lea, (Jim, of Slade fame’s brother) AND the one and only, David Essex. (“I kid you not!”) The outcome…The David Essex Story, a completely official movie which is due to start shooting at the end of September 2014.

(18) Leafy Berkshire – Further decorating takes place at Chez Badman.

(15) Leafy Berkshire – A day researching The Beatles for the upcoming, ground-breaking book on the band.

(12 – 13 - 14) Leafy Berkshire – Extensive research on The Beatles’ radio appearances.

(11) The World – The latest edition of Record Collector magazine, featuring Keith’s piece on the one-off, January 1965 Granada pop-show, Pop Shop, landed on door-mats across the country.

(9) Leafy Berkshire – With some of Keith’s American (Beatles) fans about to reach the country for Liverpool’s Convention in just two weeks, he had to stop work on his Beatles project and set about doing some decorating. (“Never stops here, ya’ know!”)

(7) Central London – Yet another meeting involving the on-going ITV project idea. Today’s get-together involved distribution… “Onwards and upwards.”

(5) Canada – And still the rise continues. On Amazon Canada, in the “most wished for” in Marilyn section on the site, Keith’s softback version of Marilyn was still at no.9 while the hardback version was again at no.10. (“Fabulous!”)

(4) Windsor, Berkshire – 1:30pm meeting with the photographer, Michael Randolph, famous for his images of The Rolling Stones’ 1968, Rock & Roll Circus. A rather interesting discussion about a future project was discussed. (“Watch this space!”)

(3) Canada – The rise continues. On Amazon Canada, in the “most wished for” section on the actress, the paperback of Keith’s Marilyn was at no.9 while the hardback version was at no.10. (“You couldn’t make it up!”)

(2) Canada – For the fourth-straight day, Keith’s Marilyn was at n.1 in the “most wished for” book on the actress on Amazon Canada. On the same site, on the exact same day, in the “gift ideas” section, the hardback version was at no.20 and the paperback was at 18. (“Thank you, Canada!”)

(1) South London – An almighty catch-up with Tel and Southampton FC fan, Mike (Chappers) Chapman. (“Plenty of laughs, and, er, plenty of wine…”)