The Beatles

It's official: The Beatles will soon make their digital debut on the Xbox 360, Play Station 3 and Nintendo Wii. MTV Games has announced a 9 September launch date for the Fab Four's interactive adventure, to be titled The Beatles: Rock Band.

Simon Boswell, Stefano Mainetti and Nour Eddine were asked to write a soundtrack around three elements: Gregorian chant sung by the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome, London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the voice of Pope Benedict XVI.

British music company EMI has had success with The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones, and more recently with Lily Allen and Coldplay. The company is now struggling to survive the financial crisis, however, and it may go bankrupt.

"I couldn't put it down," said Tom Waits. He was talking about How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, an alternative history of popular music by Elijah Wald. The book, says Waits, "is suave, soulful, ebullient and will blow out your speakers."

Liverpool's Hope University is offering an MA in "The Beatles", the first of its kind in the world. Hope says: "There have been over 8,000 books about The Beatles, but there has never been serious academic study, and that is what we are going to address."