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Follow our
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role The Beatles
played in changing
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1839--Details of Louis Daguerre’s first practical photographic process are released in Paris, France.

1944--Vocalist Billy J. Kramer (of the Dakotas) is born William Ashton in Bootle, England.

1960--Russia’s Sputnik 5 carries two dogs and three mice into orbit (who later recovered alive).

1960--The Beatles perform at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, West Germany.

1961--The Beatles perform at Aintree Institute, Aintree, Liverpool.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at night, their first appearance at the Cavern with Ringo Starr as drummer. A fight breaks out with fans of Pete Best as the Beatles enter the club, and George Harrison gets a black eye.

1963--The Beatles perform at the Gaumont Cinema, Bournemouth. This is the first of six nights, two shows per night, at this location.

1963--Photographer Robert Freeman shoots the half-shadow Beatles photo that will become the album cover for their second LP, With the Beatles (it is also used for the cover of the American LP, Meet the Beatles). Freeman takes the photo at the hotel the Beatles were staying at in Bournemouth, The Palace Court. The exact date is not known for certain, but it is one of the six days of the Beatles’ engagement at the Gaumont Cinema in Bournemouth (August 19th through the 24th). This is one of the early signs of the great sense of style the Beatles had in presenting themselves to the public, be it through album covers, specially-themed photo sessions, fashion choices, and of the course, the famous Beatle hairstyle.

1964--The Beatles open their tour of the US with a performance at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, for a crowd of 17,130. They would visit 26 cities on this late summer visit. They perform the 12 songs which make up their repertoire for the entire tour: Twist and Shout, You Can’t Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Things We Said Today, Roll Over Beethoven, Can’t Buy Me Love, If I Fell, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Boys, A Hard Day’s Night, and Long Tall Sally. There will be some variation in song selection or order, but not much. What difference did it make, when no one, not even the Beatles themselves, could hear the music? The supporting acts are the Bill Black Combo, The Exciters, The Righteous Brothers, and Jackie De Shannon. (Oh, that lucky girl!)

1964--A Kansas City impresario offers $350,000 for The Beatles to perform in that city, the largest amount paid to an artist in the US up to that time. Brian Epstein checks with rhe boys, who agree to do the show, then accepts the offer.

1965--The Beatles, touring North America, perform two shows at Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas. The Beatles earn $85,000 for the two performances, each with an audience of 12,000. Beatlemania was “...at possibly its most acute level yet witnessed.” Brian Epstein hurts his back, when he is sprung from the emergency exit of an airplane into a service truck during a serious outbreak of Beatle madness at the Houston Airport.

1966--The Beatles, touring America for the last time, perform two shows at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee. An anonymous phone caller threatens that one or all of the Beatles will be assassinated during one of their performances. Midway through the second show, someone in the audience throws a lighted firecracker onto the stage, and it explodes, causing the Beatles a moment of alarm. Paul McCartney would say later that when they heard the sound they looked at each other to see who was going to drop from being shot. Is it any wonder that this was the end of their touring days?

1967--All You Need Is Love becomes the #1 single in the US (Billboard).

1967--Jason Starkey, Ringo and Maureen Starkey’s second son, is born at the Queen’s Charlotte Maternity Hospital, Hammersmith, London.

1969--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). A synthesizer overdub for Here Comes the Sun is recorded.

1972--NBC-TV presents “The Midnight Special” for the first time. John Denver is the host for the first show. Wolfman Jack was the show’s announcer. “The Midnight Special” proved to be a ratings success.

1974--US release of the Harry Nilsson LP, Pussy Cats (RCA). John Lennon produced the album. Ringo Starr plays drums on six tracks and maracas on another. Klaus Voorman plays bass guitar. Some of the other musicians appearing on the album are Keith Moon, Jesse Ed Davis, Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, and Sneeky Pete. One of the songs on the LP is John’s Mucho Mungo, which is joined with Nilsson’s Mt. Elga. On the back of the album are the following inscriptions: “Everything is the opposite of what it is,” Dr. Winston O’Boogie M.D. (Manic Depressive) and “But somehow it isn’t only not just the words isn’t it?” Prof. Schmilsson M.E. (Me). The gatefold album cover includes numerous photos of John and Ringo.

1977--Actor and comedian Groucho Marx dies. Probably the most popular of the Marx Brothers, whose films include “A Night at the Opera” and “A Day at the Races.” Everybody loved Groucho.

1979--Bassist Dorsey Burnette (a member of the rockabilly band the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio with his brother, Johnny Burnette, in the fifties) dies of a heart attack in Canoga Park, California. He was 46 years old.

1989--Authorities from four European countries (on the Dutch vessel “Volans” and the British launch “Landward”) board the offshore rock station Radio Caroline (on the ship “Ross Revenge”) in international waters in the North Sea and force it to shut down. Disc jockeys relayed a blow-by-blow account of events to the astonished listeners right up to the end.

1991--UK re-release of the George Harrison (with Ringo Starr and others) album The Concert for Bangla Desh on double CD (Epic).

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