If a great deal of Philip Norman’s latest biography feels very familiar indeed, there are good reasons for that. One is that the legend of The Beatles is perhaps second only to the gospels in Western culture as a received and endlessly repeated mythos. was the first Beatles biography to give the group the care and attention routinely accorded to creative giants in, say, literature, art or theatre. As it turned out, he would instead become a key figure in the history of pop music, and specifically in by far the most transformative pop music there ever was or probably ever will be, surpassing in significance any “higher” art form of its era. Norman now seeks to give Epstein his due, and place him back at the centre of the narrative.