In 2003, I spent some time proof reading and doing some additional fact checking for a a fascinating new Beatles book. Entitled Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! - The Beatles erövrar Sverige ("Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! - The Beatles Conquer Sweden"), the book is centred around a detailed account of The Beatles' visits to Sweden in 1963 and 1964. As you may be aware, Sweden was the first country The Beatles toured after their breakthrough.

The book was published on October 23, 2003, 40 years to the day since the group visited Sweden for the first time. Back then, they had just hit the big time with songs such as ”Please Please Me”, ”From Me To You” and ”She Loves You”. The visit to Sweden was their very first tour outside Great Britain, and included performances in the towns of Karlstad, Eskilstuna, Gothenburg, Borås and Stockholm. During their stay in Sweden they also found time to appear on radio and television – thanks to the Anthology project, today these recordings have been seen and heard by millions all over the world.

The authors of the book are journalists Börje Lundberg and Ammi Bohm, who have charted The Beatles’ adventures in Sweden – day by day, minute by minute. The story is largely told trough new interviews with more than 100 people who met The Beatles in Sweden: famous artists, legendary radio and television hosts, wide-eyed fans who could socialise with the band almost as if they were close friends – and many more! The authors have also interviewed other Swedes with a Beatles connection: for example Peter Goldman, who directed the pioneering videos for “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane”.

Some of the foremost Swedish Beatles experts have ensured the factual accuracy in the book: Artillio Bergholtz, author of an earlier publication focusing on The Beatles and Sweden, and Staffan Olander, well-known for keeping the Beatles flame alive in Sweden for three decades, writer of liner notes to Ringo's Apple CDs, co-author of George Martin's Playback book, and much more.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! – The Beatles erövrar Sverige is richly illustrated with hundreds of photographs, many never before published. The book concludes with a full colour discography, covering the Swedish Beatles releases.

There is also a bonus CD, entitled Burling möter Beatles (Burling Meets The Beatles). This marks the first official release of the legendary Beatles interviews made by radio broadcaster Klas Burling: before the first Sweden visit, in the airplane just a few minutes after their arrival in 1964, and during the actual visits.

The book comes in four different dust covers: red, blue, green and purple.

Swedish language, hardbound, 220 x 280 mm, 352 pages. ISBN: 91-89136-03-9

For more info, visit the Premium Publishing website (www.premiumpublishing.com)

The Beatles arriving in Sweden in 1964. One of the images from the new Beatles book.