Welcome to Nothing As Real a podcast about the Beatles.

Everybody thinks they know the Beatles, but how much do we really know?

My name is Jason Carty.

My name is Stephen Cockroft.

And we're live on tape from Dublin and Belfast and New Jersey because we are joined on this episode by Kenneth Womack.

Hello, Kenneth.

Hello, fellas. The catchphrase.

Now, I'm pretty certain anybody who listens to Nothing As Real knows who Kenneth Womack is. He's a writer, historian, a professor of English and

popular music at Monmouth University, and he has devoted much of his work to the Beatles,

including such books as the Cambridge Companion to the Beatles and the Beatles Encyclopedia,

Everything Fab Four, alongside a two-volume biography of George Martin.

He's a world-class scholar in all things Fab, and we are on the verge of a new book from Kenneth, which is about Mal Evans, everyone's favorite road manager.

Welcome to the show, Kenneth.

How are you?

I am doing well, and as I said, I'm really proud to be here with you guys.

So we're going to get on to Living the Beatles Legend on the road with the Fab Four, the

Mal Evans story or Living the Beatles Legend, the untold story of Mal Evans, depending on which

side of the Atlantic you're on, which is coming out on November the 14th.

And, you know, myself and Steven have been talking a lot about Mal Evans

recently. But my opening gambit, whenever anybody comes on the podcast, is I'm always interested

in where the Beatles first entered your life, because obviously the Beatles play a huge role

in your life and an ongoing role in your life. So where does that all begin? Well, I'm not a first

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