The first part of the definitive three-volume biography of the Beatles

With a dash through their respective school exits, John and Paul would arrive together on the same stretch of street at the same moment and were truants for the afternoon - 'sagging off'. John would have his guitar ready.

From a stop on Catharine Street, they boarded the 86 bus, a green double-decker like those driven by Harry Harrison, father of Paul's young schoolfriend George. They found their way upstairs and had a smoke, strumming strings while the bus bounced them out to the southern suburbs. Within thirty minutes of sneaking out, they were inside Paul's terraced council house at 20 Forthlin Road, empty in the daytime. As Jim McCartney would no more let Paul skip school than allow that boy in the house, subterfuge was vital. Afternoon sessions, two till five, ended with a hurried wafting around of smoke and washing of dirty dishes ... though by then they'd often written another song.

The Beatles have been at the top for fifty years, their music remains exciting, their influence is still huge, their acclaim and achievements cannot be surpassed. But who really were the Beatles, and how did they and everything else in the 1960s fuse so explosively?

Mark Lewisohn's three-part biography is the first true and accurate account of the Beatles, a contextual history built upon impeccable research and written with energy, style, objectivity and insight. This first volume covers the crucial and less-known early period - the Liverpool and Hamburg years of a hungry rock and roll band, when all the sharp characters and situations take shape.

This is the Beatles like you've never read them before. It isn't just 'another book', it's the book, from the world-acknowledged authority. Forget what you know and discover the complete story.