John and Paul: A love story in songs Ian Leslie
Event details
Drawing on recently released footage and recordings, writer Ian Leslie will offer a fresh take on two of the greatest icons in music history - John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The story begins in 1957 when two teenagers in suburban Liverpool meet and decide to play rock n'roll together. It ends 23 years later, when one of them is murdered. In between, we see them become global stars, create countless indelible songs and play a central role in shaping the modern world.
Ian, author of John and Paul: A love story in songs, will explain how Lennon and McCartney were more than friends, rivals or collaborators. They were intimates who both had the fabric of their world ruptured at a young age, and who longed to make emotional connections - with each other and with audiences. The pop song was a vessel into which they poured feelings of grief and euphoria and everything in between. When they couldn't speak what they felt, they sang it. After the break-up of their group, they maintained a musical dialogue at a distance, in songs full of recrimination, regret and affection.
Join Ian as he traces the twists and turns of their relationship through the music it produced and offers rich insights into the nature of creativity, collaboration and human connection.
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
About the speaker
Ian Leslie is the author of acclaimed books on human psychology and behaviour, translated into over a dozen languages. Malcolm Gladwell describes him as "one of my favourite writers". Previous books include Curious about the desire to learn and How to Disagree on the art and science of productive disagreement. Ian has written for the New Statesman, the Financial Times, the Economist and the New York Times on culture, technology and psychology and he is the author of a popular Substack newsletter, The Ruffian. Ian is a fellow of the Royal Society For Arts. He lives in London with his wife and two children. He has been a Beatles fan since he was seven. He is the author of John and Paul: A love story in songs (Faber, 2025).
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