Gary Kemp paid £10,000 for Brian Epstein's address book

By Marcus Bennett, Arts & Voices

Gary Kemp paid £10,000 at a Sotheby's auction for a small black binder that once belonged to Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager. The Spandau Ballet guitarist was not looking for rock memorabilia. He barely collects it. But the lot stopped him.

The object was a 160x100mm black Twinlock binder. Its 57 pages hold 404 entries, many handwritten by Epstein himself. The entries map the impresario's social and business network in 1967 — the year of his death.

Kemp immediately recognised the book's value. It was a who's who of London at its swinging peak. The names run from David Bailey and David Frost to most of the Rolling Stones.

"I just thought, 'I've got to have this. I've got to hold it,'" Kemp said. "It's got DNA on it."

What does the book actually document?

The address book is more than a list of contacts. Read closely, it records the circles Epstein moved through in his final months. It catalogues business associates, friends and celebrities. And it captures a man whose life, as the resulting account describes it, was unravelling.

Kemp used the binder to co-author a book. The work offers two things at once: a thrilling account of the swinging 60s, and an intimate portrait of a tormented man. Friends described Epstein in that period as terrified and panicked, unable to sleep. He died in 1967, alone, at 32.

Why an email nearly changed nothing

The story turns on a small accident. The invitation from Sotheby's might easily have gone unread. Kemp's appreciation for the musicians who came before him is deep, but he does not chase artefacts. One lot among many caught his eye, and he acted.

What does this change for how we understand Epstein? The binder gives historians and fans a primary document from the manager's last year. Every entry carries a date's weight. Each name places Epstein somewhere specific in the final chapter of his life.

Kemp's book now turns that private object into a public record. The 404 entries, once scattered handwriting in a 160x100mm binder, anchor a narrative of 60s London and of the lonely man at its centre.