Beatles roadie whose passion for the band (and groupies) wrecked his life: Mal Evans toured the world in luxury with the Fab Four, but after the group broke up his marriage collapsed - and his life ended in a hail of police gunfire...

BOOK OF THE WEEK

LIVING THE BEATLES LEGEND

by Kenneth Womack (Mudlark £25, 592pp)

One lunchtime in 1961, a young telephone engineer called Mal Evans took a different route back to work after eating his sandwiches at Liverpool’s Pier Head.

Choosing a short-cut down a back alley, he heard what sounded like Elvis Presley music coming from a fruit cellar.

Paying a shilling, he went down some steps to investigate, and found himself in the Cavern Club at one of the Beatles’ pre-fame lunchtime sessions.

That random choice of route would change his entire life.