Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles

Philip Norman returns to talk about Mr. Moonlight, his first book devoted entirely to Brian Epstein, and what emerges from decades of Beatles research focused through a single lens is a portrait more complex than the one most people think they know. Norman reveals the extraordinary story of how the Kray twins plotted to exploit Brian’s gambling addiction and seize control of The Beatles, the antisemitism and homophobia Brian faced even at the peak of his success, and new evidence around the circumstances of his death that raises serious questions about the official verdict.

Philip also covers areas that too often gets overlooked: Brian’s family history, his time in the army and at drama school, his instinct for a hit record, and the way he shielded The Beatles from a fame that might otherwise have consumed them. The question Norman keeps returning to is the one that still stings: why, given everything he did, does Brian Epstein undervalued?