This biography of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ road manager (among many other roles) has a long history. Originally, Mal wrote a memoir, but died in 1976 before it could be completed and published. The manuscript, along with diaries, photographs and other valuable memorabilia, sat in the publisher’s basement for years, until it was rescued by an assistant, who alerted Yoko Ono and Mal’s widow Lily Evans to the items at risk of destruction. Eventually, the collection was delivered to his family in 1988, but it was painful for them to handle, and many years passed before Gary Evans was ready for a proper biography of his father to be written. The book is therefore an achievement decades in the making. It has been carefully compiled and referenced, with many images. I was aware of the book for a while, but wasn’t going to read it. After all, I’ve read quite a few Beatles books now; how much more is there to know? However, I’m glad that I changed my mind, because it’s a very insightful read.

The book details the early days of Mal, before following his career with the GPO and as bouncer for the Cavern Club. He became a huge fan of the Beatles and was to be indispensable to them after he quit his day job. He even contributed to the music and he had a famous bag which contained anything a Beatle could possibly need. In the days of crazy Beatlemania when they still performed live, it was Mal who had to clean the sticky messes of jelly babies – thrown by the fans after George once remarked he liked them – off the equipment. He went on holidays with the Beatles, partied with them and helped their solo careers. Out of all the candidates for ‘fifth Beatle’, he would have a strong claim, based on the details in this book.

The contrast in Mal’s character, which this book presents, is that everyone said how friendly and helpful he was, yet when it came to his wife and children, he often kept his distance and escaped to the US – and to other women – whenever he had the chance. The Beatles were his number one priority and whenever any of them wanted something, he would run to them. I didn’t really want to reach the end of the book, because I knew of the tragedy which approached. However, I appreciate that Mal’s story has now been told, with much consideration for his family, so that all Beatles fans can discover his vital contributions to the band’s legacy.

Published by Mudlark, 2023.