Neaverson, Bob 1967-

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NEAVERSON, Bob 1967-

PERSONAL:

Born 1967.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Peter Owen Publishers, Inc., 73 Kenway Rd., London SW5 0RE, England.

CAREER:

Lecturer on film and media; writer. Has worked on film production.

WRITINGS:

The Beatles Movies, Cassell (New York, NY), 1997. (With Denis O'Dell) At the Apple's Core: The Beatles from the Inside, Peter Owen (London, England), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bob Neaverson was born during the era when the Beatles were at their height of popularity. As an adult Neaverson has studied the Beatles' films and other video creations and has written and lectured on the subject. His book The Beatles Movies takes a serious look at how the Beatles influenced mainstream cinema, and how each of their finished films inaugurated a new phase in their careers. A reviewer for Sight and Sound called Neaverson's production histories in The Beatles Movies "fascinating" and praised the author for his "concise, resonant writing."

While conducting his research for The Beatles Movies, Neaverson arranged an interview with Denis O'Dell, who produced or co-produced A Hard Day's Night, How I Won the War, Magical Mystery Tour, and Let It Be. O'Dell took a leading role in the Beatles' Apple, Inc., an umbrella company that created everything from records and movies to apparel. Although he was a longtime friend of the Beatles, O'Dell had rarely spoken or written about his relationship with them prior to meeting Neaverson. The two men got along well, and Neaverson helped O'Dell to write a memoir titled At the Apple's Core: The Beatles from the Inside. Neaverson's aim was to afford Beatles fans a glimpse of the group from the perspective of an insider who worked intimately with them for years.

At the Apple's Core contains never before published photographs of the Beatles, as well as O'Dell's reflections on the group, particularly in reference to their films and promotional videos. Variety correspondent Archie Thomas deemed the book "an entertaining if overfawning firsthand account of the pain and the pleasure of working at the core of Apple Corps in those heady years." Thomas felt that the strength of the memoir "lies in its portrayal of a day in the lives of the biggest band that ever was." A Publishers Weekly critic praised the work as "genteel yet engaging" and concluded that it "provides a welcome insight into a small but crucial part of the Beatles' artistic legacy."