The Beatles

Indisputably the greatest pop/rock group of all time, the more I listen to their music, the more amazed I am at its richness and diversity, and the huge leaps they made from their early songs to the albums they progressed to. My ipod is full only of Beatles songs - I'm playing them now A-Z. The oldies radio station Capital Gold did a Beatles 24-hours last December. I challenge anyone to name another group or artiste whose work could sustain such a marathon. (I'm not prejudiced, you understand!)

I once attended a recording session at Abbey Road studios (for an opera, not rock music) and crossed the road on the famous zebra crossing almost without thinking about it. In 1963, when I was a mere 10 years old, I went to see the Fab Four at the local cinema, the Lewisham Odeon. They were a great live act (even in spite of the noise of the screams!) Their song-writing talents were vast. The White Album contains Vaudeville, calypso, blues, you name it.

These days, my favourite numbers change according to what I'm listening to at any given time, but Revolution (the fast and the slow versions) and my lovely George's Here Comes The Sun are way up there. Their two feature films were way ahead of their time - A Hard Day's Night (the title apparently a Ringoism) is really quite surreal.

The tragedy of the loss, first of the group, then of two of its members at such early ages, is almost as terrible as the early death of Mozart (and I love my Mozart).