After 3 years of spiralling into a world of alcohol abuse, endless parties, police raids and chaotic events I realised that running pubs in West London was probably not my calling in life. The final nails in that career’s coffin came when I single-handedly ruined my friend, and infamous punk rocker, Donnie Tourette’s wedding and watched helplessly as my long term girlfriend (and most of my staff) walked out on me.
Some would call it a mid-life crisis, some may say nervous breakdown but I knew that I needed a grander project than applying for full time jobs. After failing in my attempts to launch a portable floating recording studio on a riverboat and a new musical-themed chain of fitness centres called Muscle Shoals, the answer came to me in the form of a text message. It read:
DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE’S A BEATLES STATUE IN KAZAKHSTAN?
I didn’t know this but a quick Google search confirmed that there was. On further investigation, I found another statue in Mongolia, then Siberia, then Cuba, then Peru and then Iceland. The list seemed endless. I started asking Beatles authorities such as Bill Heckle, who owns the Cavern in Liverpool, and various experts, all of whom were also surprised by the amount of these monuments. It was generally agreed that nobody had conclusively documented them all together, and certainly nobody had been stupid enough to visit them all.
Armed with a fake BBC journalist’s pass, a dodgy second hand Dictaphone, a scruffy old green ruck sack and more front than Blackpool, I sold my pubs and headed off around the world to document the Beatles in the most unexpected places.