Coonabarabran’s Chris Evans admits his obsession with British rock band The Beatles is borderline fanatical...and it’s evident when the subject is broached.

Chris not only has an almost intimate knowledge of each member of The Beatles, but also those who surrounded the famous band.

For Chris, it all started at the age of 11. He had just heard the Beatles song ‘I want to hold your hand’ and was spellbound.

“I was hooked on them from that point on,” he said.

“I actually remember that as a really impactful moment in my life.”

As a result of his fondness for the band, Chris compiled a powerpoint presentation of The Beatles and every single one of their entourage. It was 620 sides long!

Chris sent his creation to American rock’n’roll detective, Jim Berkensdadt, who credited the compilation as one of the best he’d ever seen.

Berkensdadt, himself an expert on all things Beatles, had co-authored three books about the English band.

Chris said it wasn’t so much the music, but the identities and personalities of each of The Beatles members that intrigued him.

He also has a passion for that era and the Liverpool area from where each of the band members rose, merely streets apart.

“I’m engrossed in Liverpool in the 60s,” Chris said.

“Their (The Beatles) upbringing is fascinating. Back then, Liverpool was a very violent place and the stories about how each of them survived it is very interesting. It was quite a place to live.

“And for them all to live in Liverpool, literally a few streets away from each other, is mind boggling.

“You’ve got two of the greatest song writers ever, growing up a few miles apart.

“And their sayings and beliefs in life and how they treated everyone they interacted with integrity is amazing to me.”

Chris said John Lennon had the potential to be one of the most influential figures in history if he hadn’t been shot dead.

“He is by far the most fascinating and interesting human I have ever read about,” Chris said.

“He was a sheer genius. He is one person who could have changed the world as far as world peace goes.

“The other person was Princess Diana.”

Of course, Chris also has his take on the controversial Yoko Ono.

He said Ono, like Lennon, was also highly educated.

“She was another one that was a sheer genius,” Chris said.

“Don’t worry about those people that say she ruined The Beatles. The Beatles were already finished when she came onto the scene, so that’s just not true.”

Amongst Chris’s impressive Beatles’ collection is over 100 books and around 70 DVD’s of movies, biographies and concerts.

He has Yellow Submarine on yellow vinyl, White album on white vinyl and Abby Road on red vinyl.

His prized possession though is a bracelet with ‘The Beatles’ engraved on one side and their names on the other.

“It belonged to a young man I knew who was killed in a truck accident years ago,” he said.

“About eight or nine years ago his mother gave it to me.

“That’s probably the first thing I would grab if there was a fire.”

Chris’s second most prized possession is a copy of the Liverpool Echo newspaper, which has the story about John Lennon’s murder on the front page.