Great Regulars: "What captivated and fascinated Britain

in late 1963," [Philip] Norman writes about the early bloom of Beatlemania, "was not just a pop group more extraordinarily and unstoppably successful than any before. It was the new definition of 'pop group' they had created, something closer to the Marx Brothers than any forerunners like the Blue Caps or Shadows--a gang laughingly on the run from overblown adulation and desire, a brotherhood that in the brightest glare of publicity still kept its own intriguing secrets, the ultimate impenetrable clique."

from David L. Ulin: Los Angeles Times: 'John Lennon: The Life,' by Philip Norman

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