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Follow our
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of historical
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role The Beatles
played in changing
the modern world.

1934--The satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner,” created by Al Capp, makes its debut.

1961--Construction on the Berlin Wall begins in East Germany. The German city of Berlin was divided by a barbed wire fence. The East Berlin government was adamant in its effort to keep those in the eastern sector from moving into the non-Communist western sector. Even regular telephone and postal service between the sectors was stopped. Several days later, the barbed wire was reinforced with a concrete wall between official crossing points. The Berlin Wall stood as a barrier to freedom for the East Germans until November 9, 1989.

1961--The Beatles perform at the Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime, and that night they perform at the Majestic Ballroom, Crewe, Cheshire.

1963--The Beatles perform two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Llandudno, Caernarvonshire.

1963--The Beatles’ Parlophone EP “Twist and Shout” reaches sales of 250,000 copies, making it the first EP to earn a silver record.

1964 - The last hangings in Britain take place when two men are executed for murder in Liverpool and Manchester.

1965--US release of The Beatles’ soundtrack LP Help! (Capitol). Songs: Help!, The Night Before, You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, I Need You, Another Girl, Ticket to Ride, and You’re Gonna Lose That Girl. The remainder of the album is filled with orchestral instrumentals from the movie soundtrack. 44 weeks on Billboard chart with the highest position of #1. (Note: On re-releases, the song You’re Gonna Lose That Girl is listed as "You’re Going To Lose That Girl." This is very strange, as they clearly sing “you’re gonna” every time the lyric comes up in the song.)

1965--The Beatles arrive at Kennedy International Airport for a tour of North America. The support acts for the tour are Brenda Holloway and The King Curtis Band, Cannibal and the Headhunters, and Sounds Incorporated. The Beatles’ song list for the tour is: Twist and Shout, She’s a Woman, I Feel Fine, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, Ticket to Ride, Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby, Can’t Buy Me Love, Baby’s in Black, Act Naturally, A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, and I’m Down (I Wanna Be Your Man is occasionally substituted for Act Naturally). The tour will not be a happy one for the Beatles, whose safety requires that their arrival, performance, and departure from concert locations be conducted like military operations. Press conferences become an ordeal as the Beatles are forced to answer a barrage of inane questions. As the interaction with their audiences becomes almost completely severed, the Beatles’ playing will suffer terribly, to the point where they no longer rehearse. Frustrated at the absurdity of it all, John begins screaming off-microphone obscenities at the audiences. Yet the public remains oblivious to the discontent of the not-so-happy-go-lucky “Fab Four.” When the tour is over, the Beatles will go home one million dollars richer, but they will be completely disillusioned about performing live. They veto Brian Epstein's suggestions for a fall tour of Britain, a return to the Royal Variety Show, and a third Christmas show. Epstein is later able to persuade the Beatles to tour the UK, but it will be a short one. (Note: the song Dizzy Miss Lizzie is often spelled “Dizzy Miss Lizzy.”)

1965--The Beatles meet with Bob Dylan at their rooms at the Warwick Hotel, New York.

1966--The Beatles perform two shows at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, during their final American tour.

1966--A public Beatles records burning is organized by the North American radio station “Coob.” Priest Thurman H. Babbs of Cleveland, Ohio, says that he will ask for the excommunication of any parishioner who goes to a Beatles concert or approves of John Lennon’s “negative” remarks about Christianity.

1966--The Beatles’ LP Revolver is #1 in the UK charts.

1968--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). The Beatles set about making a second re-make of Sexy Sadie. Eight takes are recorded, followed by four reduction mixdowns. Then recording begins for Yer Blues (14 takes, followed by reduction mixdowns for takes 15-17). The finished song is an edit of takes 16 and 17; the beginning of take 17 is spliced onto the end of take 16. The splice occurs 3 minutes, 17 seconds into the song.

1972--John Lennon and Yoko Ono play a New York benefit at Madison Square Garden to assist the mentally challenged. Also on the bill are Stevie Wonder and Sha-Na-Na. This is the now-legendary One to One concert that was filmed and later released on video and DVD.

For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net