(29) America / Italy – Special thanks to Linda Davis "flamencofriend" of North West US, for her 5-star review of Marilyn (paperback version) on Amazon.com. “A good book with lots of good facts,” she wrote. “Some of the things that happened to her at the end of her life were disturbing. I found myself saddened by some of things that happened to her nearing the end of her life. She was much too fragile to with-stand the insensitive man- handling not only by the Kennedys but others. The ending was painful to read.”
-Meanwhile, on Amazon Italy, the hardback version of Marilyn, Gli ultimi giorni di Marilyn Monroe. Le relazioni pericolose, le trappole, il presunto suicidio: tutta la verità sulla fine, climbed up to the n.59 position in the “Libri > Arte, musica e cinema > Cinema e television” section of the site.
(28) West End London – Location work, with Keith present. David Essex was filmed walking thru the streets of London for the new documentary. And with that, shooting for it was completed. Next stage- editing.
-The paperback version of Marilyn climbed back up to the #10 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section of Amazon Canada. While in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” area of the site, Keith’s book on the great actress was seen at #11 and #12, hardback and paperback respectively.
(27) Central London – Legendary singer, composer, producer, arranger and Wombles recording star, Mike Batt was interview for the David Essex movie. ("Pleasure meeting you, Mike.") After which, Keith caught-up with an old friend, the legendary Buzzcocks singer, guitarist, composer, Steve Diggle. ("His story about a lizard is still one of his funniest-ever," Badman admitted.)
(25) Canada – Amazon Canada, paperback #4 in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site.
(24) Outer London – One for the "You couldn't make this up," department. The venue: HL2, Hanger Lane Studios, the reason: a private run-through of Jeff Wayne’s legendary musical, The War Of The Worlds, before it went out on its sell-out tour. After which, the maestro himself, Wayne gave an interview for the new documentary, The David Essex Story. (“Thanks for your time and hospitality, Jeff. It was a truly superb day!”) Keith even shared a couple of words with one of the stars of the production, Jason Donovan.
(22) Leafy Berkshire – Return visit to the fine diner of John Barratt. "Wonderful hospitality, sumptuous food, riveting conversation," was once again found at this top eatery. Bookings at which are solid until early 2016.
(21) Leafy Berkshire – All done (we hope)! Keith finally wrapped his four files for the upcoming Hunter Davies/ Beatles project, which is still set for release in mid-2016. “The ultimate book on the group?” You betcha!!
-Canada Amazon – Keith’s Marilyn was seen twice today in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site; the hardcover at #10, and the paperback at ‘#11.
(19/20) Central London – Days 3 and 4 on The David Essex Story. Keith was present at both. On Wednesday, the interviewee was Billy Cook, David’s son. While on Thursday, the chap-in-the-chair was the great man himself, David Essex. His most riveting, most enlightening session ran for a lengthy 4 hours.
-While in the City, Keith was proud-as-punch to pick-up (for a most specular price) the brand-new, highly anticipated, long awaited Batman television series box-set. “I’m over the moon,” he said as he rushed-out of the shop, and began counting down the hours until he was able to view all 120, digitally-remastered episodes (not to mention the 3-hours of spectacular extras)!
(17) Leafy Berkshire – Two down, two to go. Keith finally completed two of the four Beatles files for the forthcoming project with Hunter Davies.
-A tribute to Cream bassist, Jack Bruce, his 1971 appearance on Granada ITV’s Out Front programme, was typed and sent-in to Record Collector magazine.
-Central London – As planned shooting finally got underway on the new Alan G. Parker production, The David Essex Story.
(14) Leafy Berkshire – Another frantic day with research and pre-production typing on the new David Essex movie and the tidying of Keith’s four Beatles files, which are intended for the forthcoming, rather exciting, new Hunter Davies project.
(14-15) Canada – One-week later, and the rise continued. On Amazon Canada, on these two-days, Marilyn (hardcover) was seen at #10 and (the softback version) was spotted one-place lower, at #11 in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section of the site.
(11-13) South Coast - Keith paid a (highly successful, rather fruitful) return visit to “Lawford-Land” for further business matters, mostly involving those relating to the rather exciting, New Year ahead.
(10) Leafy Berkshire – With work on the Essex movie taking-up much of his time, Keith made a early start on his next piece for Record Collector magazine. This month, a tribute to the late, great bassist, Jack Bruce, whom Mr. Badman encountered for the one and only time, back in 2001 during production of the ultimately, unreleased Delilah Films documentary, The British Invasion.
(8) Canada – The march continued when the hardcover version of Marilyn was seen at #7 and the softcover at #11 in the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada. On the same day, and on the same site, the Kindle version was placed at #13 in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” listings.
(7) Central London – Fourth and final David Essex pre-production meeting was held at The “Spice” office on Charing Cross Road. The end result, shooting was now all set to begin in 10 days’ time, on November 17.
(5) Leafy Berkshire – On the 51st anniversary of The Beatles playing in Slough for the second, and final time, Keith found himself busy doing more pre-production on the new David Essex movie. Thanks go to Massimo at Studio Canal for his superb help today.
-Keith’s LinkedIn total incidentally, as of today, stood at 321…
(4) Canada – Incredible, but true! Marilyn (hardback) climbed back up to the #1 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada. On the same day, on the same site, the softback edition stood at #16 in the listing. Incredible!
(3) Canada / UK / Italy – In the “Most Gifted in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada, the hardcover Marilyn was at #6, and the softback sat at #11. On Amazon UK, the kindle version of the book was at #89 in the “Biography & True Accounts > Arts & Literature” section of the site. The possible reason? The paperback version of it had now completely sold-out!! While on Amazon Italy, that country’s, kindle version of it was at n.70 in the “eBook Kindle > Arte, cinema e fotografia > Cinema e television” listings.
-The latest edition of Record Collector, featuring Keith’s piece on LWT/ ITV's The Party’s Moving On, starring Julie Covington, from July 1970, thundered thru letterboxes across the country.
