[7] He spent much of his early childhood attending the travelling fair where his father, who worked by day as a plumber for the council, moonlighted on the waltzers to make ends meet.

[8] Larkin studied at the South East Essex County Technical High School and at the London College of Printing, where he took typography and graphic design.

[10] Music books at this time included Johnny Rogan's Timeless Flight: The Definitive Story of the Byrds[11] and Bob Dylan, His Unreleased Recordings.

[16] Over 50 separate titles followed the creation of the Encyclopedia's database, and in 1997 Larkin sold Square One Books to American data company Muze.

[16] Larkin became full-time editor-in-chief and ran the encyclopedia as a cottage industry, with a team of fewer than ten contributors, who in terms of wordcount were "producing an Agatha Christie novel a month".

[14] From September 2008, Larkin ceased all involvement with Muze Inc. or any of its related companies following the closure of The Encyclopedia of Popular Music as a stand-alone product and his subsequent redundancy.