The Beatles and Beyond Don Short

At the end of 2015, I received some very exciting post from Don Short, with a note inside asking me if I would like to help him with his memoirs. I jumped at the opportunity!

Regular readers will recognise Don Short, as he has been featured on here a few times: once, way back in the early years of blogging, I interviewed him on the Golden Age of Journalism and more recently last year – ‘Don Short Journalist‘, and in a Christmas Books feature.

As a sort of New Year’s Resolution, we started the book properly at the beginning of 2016.

It has been a fantastic project to be a part of!

I have really enjoyed helping to research and source articles and stories…

And helping to organise and assemble the book…

Also, helping to decide which stories to include and where to put them…

It has been such an exciting journey! (See my Instagram Beatles Book Story Highlight for more)

From the beginning: deciding what kind of book it should be and initial gathering together of material. To the middle: the busy research-filled years, unearthing forgotten stories, re-structuring the book so as to make it an easy and enjoyable read, to the finishing product: design, photo-research, deciding on the actual title of the book, and publicity (more on that soon!)

Of course, we have encountered difficulties along the way that have been beyond our control: from computer mishaps to hunting for missing emails, it’s been a fun-filled ride!

We thought we were going to be lucky for the design of the front cover of the book, as my mother (and Don’s daughter) Amanda happens to be a fine artist and book designer (she designed the cover for ‘Of Gods and Men’ by sister Daisy and many more) and she set to work on an eye-catching cover. Something hand-drawn, in a design that encapsulates the book as a whole, without deviating too much from the existing covers on our publisher’s website: Don, walking down Fleet Street, the world-famous home of journalism; Don’s scoops and top headlines from his career as a journalist over a collage of his clippings, tantalising and textured to contrast with the blue sky.

*The initial draft-design mock-up for Don’s* *book c**ove*r, *missing the title and author name.* © Amanda Short

But, in the end, the publishers made us this one:

Big and retro! Certainly a fearless idea to position the journalist-author centre-stage. Regal colours, red and gold, in a font with shadows that fade in and out of each letter, like the old-fashioned days of 1990s WordArt. Nostalgia all round!

Which cover would you have chosen?