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!!...

Tuesday 13 November 2018

October 2018 - Beatles, Beach Boys, Queen, Circus '68 and a Rolls Royce!

(31) Chilly Berkshire / twinned with Ireland – Another big day for rare archive finds when Keith was informed by the ever reliable, CM that a small portion of a very rare, long-lost Beatles appearance had been found…

- Meanwhile, the long awaited, most excellent, must-have, Beach Boys book, Endless Wave, by the group’s assistant, and bodyguard, Rushton “Rocky” Pamplin, and movie producer, Ron Hamady was released and could be found (and purchased) over on Amazon.com. Keith’s endorsement of the mighty fine publication could be seen… (get this) on the front cover!! “Oh yeah!... Well done to everyone who worked on this most splendid book and to Steve Love who magnificently pulled it all together. My hat (if I was wearing one) goes off to you.”

(30) Cold / Chilly Berkshire / twinned with the Midlands – The "rather alternate" movie project idea rumbled on… “and thankfully it still looks promising."

(26) UK/ Europe – The wonderful 2017 documentary, Queen: Rock The World, which featured Keith’s archive research, was screened again on BBC Four this evening at 9pm…

(25) Not too bad / pretty mild London – Yet another trip into the City to meet (at 12:45pm) the property tycoon, entrepreneur and all round nice guy, Laurence Lameche. His recent ‘Imagine’ World Record attempt and a number of interesting, some rather funny business ideas (as well as Arsenal FC) were thrown around and discussed during the (hugely enjoyable) 5-hour conference.

- Overcast Berkshire / Cold London – With lightning speed, interest in the paper about the Circus ’68 anniversary feature… seemingly and suddenly… bit the dust!!

(23) Sunny but Cold Berkshire / twinned with London and the North – With amazing speed, the UK paper took the bait and made an approach, saying they were interested in the idea and keen to run a piece. And so the negotiations began…

(18-19-22) Sunny / Overcast / Chilly Berkshire – With the 50th anniversary fast approaching, Keith moved up a gear on how to sell the remaining stock of Stones Circus ’68 books… On the Monday, following receipt of new presentation artwork for it, an approach was made to one leading UK paper.

(12) Overcast / Sunny / Windy Berkshire – Pictures (for uploading onto this site) were sorted and sent over to (the truly wonderful, ever so delightful webmistress) AM …

- Another busy day at Chez Badman with emails, phone calls and even more house renovations…

- Stocks of the paperback version of Marilyn were replenished on Amazon.com.

(10) USA/ the World – Massive big thanks to “LilMrsScareAll” for her five-star “it was amazing” review of Marilyn on the Goodreads site.

- “What an incredible, action-packed two hours… And afternoon, for that matter.” Keith received a massive flurry of text and phone resulting in the most truly exciting developments re the new "rather alternate" movie project and (that evening) the proposed, new Beatles-related movie… “Oh yeah! Simply Sensational!”

(9) West End London, Jerusalem Bar – An ‘Imagine’ World Record sing-a-long attempt, organised by Laurence Lameche and his colleagues, took place in Central London. The place was packed solid. After one re-count, it resulted in a draw 72-72, with the previous record attempt, who (by coincidence) also sang the 1971 John Lennon track. “Well done, Laurence and your friends. So, so proud of you all.” A splendid time was certainly had by all… “Imagine all the people…”

- A most wonderful replica of the Beatle’s 1967 psychedelic Rolls Royce stood on the road outside. Keith (naturally) had several pictures taken with it. (See photo page) So too did the Lennon look-a-like / sound-a-like, Jimmy Coburn (from the Cavern Club Beatles) who performed that night a most wonderful assortment of Lennon and Beatles numbers.

(4) Overcast Berkshire – Keith had another in-depth, most interesting conversation with the film and record producer, Reynold D S.

(3) Overcast, yet Sunny Berkshire – Decluttering Chez Badman even further was the name of the game today … on the day it was announced that The Beatles’ famed engineer, Geoff Emerick had sadly passed away. “Another tragic loss to the group’s community.”

(2) Overcast Berkshire – Time to move on the stock of Circus ’68 books. So contact was made with journalist, and Keith’s great friend, Robert M about a planned 50 years celebration article of the event in a leading UK paper.

(1)Leafy Berkshire – Another monstrously busy day with (highly optimistic) discussions regarding the developing "alternate" movie project and the new Beatles-related film.

September 2018 - Imagine, Marilyn, TOTP, RC and new Film Projects!

(Till end of month) - Overcast Berkshire - Even more house renovations took place at Chez Badman….

(27) Dark Berkshire – Another trip to “Lawford-Land” loomed so advance train tickets were booked. The trip was set for early November.

(24) Berkshire / twinned with North London – (get this) An announcement was made today re a Guinness Book of World Records attempt at simultaneous singing, in the most nationalities, John Lennon’s classic song, ‘Imagine’… As of today, it was anticipated that 80 nationalities, across the globe, would take part in the event on October 9, John’s birthday. (The current World Record is 72.)

- Keith had played a very, very small part in organising the event, and was instrumental in booking the evening’s entertainment, the fabulous John Lennon singer and look-a-like, Jimmy Coburn from the Cavern Club Beatles… The star, organiser and brainchild of the event was Laurence Lameche, Keith’s pal of over 25 years. “Watch this space!”

(22) Wet and windy Berkshire – Interesting update re the new Beatles-related movie idea.

- Keith visited a rather nice, new-build property… Is this a new, highly exciting chapter in his life almost ready to begin, we wonder?

(19) Berkshire / twinned with Heathrow – The Marilyn project… reached another level… (hopefully) very exciting items ahead… starting the week beginning September 31…

- Keith had the great privilege of viewing, privately some rare, previously lost footage from a 1973 edition of BBCTV’s Top Of The Pops. “Quite simply, wow!” he said afterwards.

(17) Berkshire - twinned with Derby – A pre-production update on the "rather alternate" movie took place today; “Pleased to say, it's coming along rather nicely.”

(14 – Onwards (till completion) Overcast Berkshire – A long overdue text update of this site took place today.

(13) Berkshire – An invoice was prepared and emailed… likely to be Keith’s last for Record Collector

(12) Berkshire – The completed treatment of one other, ongoing, rather exciting film project was sent off… “Fingers crossed, aye?”

(11) UK/ Europe – The latest edition of Record Collector (Elvis Presley's ’68 Comeback Special on the cover) crashed thru the letterboxes of subscribers and featured Keith’s review of the truly great, highly informative new book, Channelling The Beat…

(7) UK – A researcher, on behalf of the BBC1 magazine programme, The One Show got in touch with Keith for help re a forthcoming, rather important Beatles anniversary item…

(3 – 12) Leafy/ Sunny / Overcast Berkshire – A tremendous amount of time was spent typing/ developing / researching etc. two major film / TV projects… “Fingers crossed they will happen!”

August 2018 - Marilyn, Beach Boys, Liverpool, Jones & a Curry!

(30) Berkshire – BeatleWeek celebrations were officially over when the last of Keith’s American visitors, Bob B flew back to the States… and life returned, pretty much, thankfully, back to normal.

(25 – 28) Liverpool – Another trip up to the annual, Cavern City Tours-organised, Beatles Convention, where (on the Sunday, at the Adelphi Hotel) Keith presented his regular video show, which included the first-ever public screenings of the wonderful, Simon Wiseman documentary, Here, There And Everywhere and a rather superb film of the legendary 1960s Liverpool band, The Big Three…

- During the early hours of August 28, at approximately 2:20, he took part in the second, now annual, 'Apple Jam' session, performing in a line-up with several other, highly-gifted, Beatles-loving musicians from across the globe. His 35-minute set included numbers such as ‘Route 66’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Johnny B Goode’, (See photo page for pics of the event.)

(28) AM: Before jumping on his train home, Keith and great, long-time mate, Steve took a trip round to the Museum of Liverpool which was running Double Fantasy - John & Yoko, a free exhibition, "celebrating the meeting of two of the world’s most creative artists who expressed their deep and powerful love for one another through their art, music and film." Running until April 22, 2019 it truly is a "must see" for any true Beatles / Lennon fan.

- Keith's goodbye to Liverpool (for this year, at least) was punctuated by a most pleasant phone from Jersey saying plans for the Beatles movie idea had just been given another big thumbs up!

(22) Canada – In-between hospitality duties, a rather nice occurrence took place, the paperback version of Marilyn suddenly back to the #2 position in the “Most Wished For in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada.

- Further great news reached Keith about the proposed "alternate" movie idea… more news soon!

(21) Berkshire, UK – Entertaining Bob B from the US meant trips around Berkshire… and a rather nice curry in Windsor, next to the castle.

(20) Canada – “Still hanging in there… six years on!” The paperback version of Marilyn was spotted in the #15 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada.

- The great American (visitors) invasion at Chez Badman and the build-up to the 2018 Beatles Convention in Liverpool was almost upon us…

(19) USA/ The World – Many thanks to reader, “Marigiusy Digregorio” for her five-star, “it was amazing” review of Marilyn on the Goodreads website. “Thank you, Marigiusy.”

(16) Wintry Berkshire – Another review for RC, this time the excellent new book, Channelling The Beat

(15) Overcast Berkshire – Another lengthy catch-up with a chap who worked closely The Beatles at Apple for six years.

- Another phone chat… with the news that the proposed "alternate" movie project idea was edging ever nearer to funding… but conversely the Jones film was moving ever closer towards failing.

(13) – UK/ Europe - “And in the end…” the latest edition of Record Collector crashed thru the letter box of subscribers of the magazine and featured Keith’s piece on Kate Bush. It was to be, sadly his very last instalment of Rockin’ The Box… The long-running, ITV themed series had been axed!

- Monster amazing news about Marilyn… the project (fingers crossed) seems to grow and grow…

- Also looking slightly good… the proposed documentary on Monty Python.

- Plans for this year’s Liverpool 2018 Beatles Convention video show were firmly put into place… “Thanks, Jon.”

(10) Overcast Berkshire – Further files were sent to David, the editor, for the long mooted Brian Jones documentary.

(9) Canada – “Well I never.” The paperback version of Marilyn suddenly raced back up to the #2 position in the “Best Sellers in Monroe, Marilyn” section on Amazon Canada.

- The end of an era. Without any fanfare whatsoever, Keith learnt his Record Collector column, which had been running for 24 years, was coming to an end…

(8) Sunny Berkshire – A rather pleasant lunch meet-up with a chap who once worked closely with The Beatles for almost 5 years…

- Suddenly, completely out of the blue, it looked like the long-mooted Brian Jones project was suddenly back on the cards…

- The new "alternate" film idea edged ever closer to fruition.

(7) Overcast Berkshire – Following a rather lengthy phone conversation, and after several months of work on it, it seemed as if the Jones film idea was now, regrettably dead in the water.

(3 & 6) Sunny Berkshire – In an attempt to save the Brian Jones movie, Keith began searching, downloading and sending archive-related items of the late musician to Dave, the editor on the film.

(2) Hawaii linked with Berkshire – Simply wonderful! Keith received an advance copy of the cover of the new Beach Boys book by the group's close associate, Rushton "Rocky" Pamplin, and which featured his endorsement of the publication. “Thanks very much Steve and ‘Rocky’… I am so very honoured. Thank you!”

(1)-USA/ The World – another month, another top “it was amazing” rating of Marilyn on Goodreads, this time from Susan Gibson… Thank you very much indeed.