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1833--Legislation to settle child labor laws is passed in England. The new law is called the Factory Act.

1920--Charlie “Bird” Parker, legendary jazz saxophonist, is born.

1944--Fifteen thousand American troops who are liberating Paris, France, during WWII, march down the Champs Elysees.

1949--The USSR explodes its first atomic bomb, starting the Cold War.

1957--US Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

1958--Michael (Joe) Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana.

1959--The Quarry Men (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ken Brown) perform at the Casbah Coffee Club, Hayman’s Green, West Derby, Liverpool. This is the opening night of a new teen club in the spacious cellars of a large Victorian house that is owned by Mrs. Mona Best. This is also the first of seven straight Saturdays that The Quarry Men will play here. Originally, the booking was for the Les Stewart Quartet, the group with which George Harrison had been playing. Les Stewart and Ken Brown had gotten into a serious argument and Stewart walked out, swearing he’d never come back. Brown then asked George if he knew of anyone who could step in and save the day. George got in touch with John and Paul, and The Quarry Men are saved from a brush with the idea of disbanding.

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

1961--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, for a lunchtime show.

1962--The Beatles perform at Floral Hall Ballroom, Morecambe, Lancashire.

1963--The Beatles perform at the Odeon Cinema in Southport.

1963--The Beatles continue filming for a documentary being made to explore the “Mersey Beat” boom. Today, they are filmed walking on the top deck of a ferry boat and signing autographs. Then, later at Speke Airport in south Liverpool, they act out an airplane arrival, descending steps from an airplane.

1964--Billboard publishes that the sales of guitars have reached its highest point since 1957, after Elvis Presley first appeared on the rock and roll scene.

1964--Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman is released. It hits number one (for 3 weeks) on September 26th and becomes the biggest song of his career.

1965--The Beatles, on tour in North America, perform a show at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California. This is the first of two nights at the historic venue. The Beatles' performance is recorded for possible release on record, but technical problems (most especially Paul McCartney's microphone going out) render the recordings unusable.

1966--The Beatles play their last concert before a paying audience, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. A crowd of 25,000 is in attendance. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, knowing what the fans do not (that this will be the last concert ever), bring cameras on stage and take pictures between songs. Tony Barrow films and records the concert. During their final tour, the Beatles have not played a single song from their newest album, Revolver, accentuating the incompatibility between their current musical interests and performing live. As the Beatles fly out of San Francisco, George Harrison comments, "Well, that’s it, I’m not a Beatle anymore.” While that is technically inaccurate, it gives proof to the fact that the Beatles have evolved and are no longer the “Fab Four.” The Beatles will go their own separate ways for several months, giving rise to editorials lamenting the demise of the group. However, in late November, they will get back into the studio together and forge a new, and quite stunning, identity.

1966--Mia Farrow withdraws from the cast of the ABC-TV prime time drama “Peyton Place,” after starring in the popular series for two years. With Farrow’s exit, her character, Allison MacKenzie, was dropped from the show. Farrow would go on to marry Frank Sinatra in a May-December romance that shocked the world, and travel to India in 1968, to meditate with Maharishi Mehesh Yogi alongside the Beatles. Farrow’s sister, was also at Rishikesh, and John Lennon’s song, Dear Prudence, was inspired by her.

1967--Brian Epstein’s funeral is held in Liverpool. Only family members attend; The Beatles are not present. After Brian’s death, the Beatles do not appoint a new manager, but assume that responsibility themselves. Their first big project will be “Magical Mystery Tour,” but their lack of experience in producing and directing movies will result in a film that is somewhat self-indulgent and amateurish. Admittedly, for some, those elements give the movie a certain charm. For the larger audience, however, “Magical Mystery Tour” (the movie) will be an unmitigated flop. At this point in The Beatles' career, Paul McCartney will begin to exert more influence upon the other group members, largely due to the lack of interest that John Lennon and George Harrison have in continuing on; they wish to pursue their own outside interests. Mark Lewisohn has a curious take on the situation, suggesting that John, George, and Ringo, having become successful, were suddenly content to sit back and let Paul, the truly industrious one, do the driving (so to speak). Yet a careful reading of Lewisohn’s works betrays a clear bias in favor of McCartney. Indeed, if one looks at John Lennon’s activities outside of The Beatles, one is surely hard-pressed to explain Paul’s emerging leadership role within the group as arising from John’s becoming lazy or “less industrious.” Perhaps a more accurate explanation is that Paul still viewed The Beatles as his primary artistic outlet, while John and George were beginning to find greater satisfaction outside of the group. And Paul has admitted as much.

1968--The Beatles in the recording studio (Trident Studios, London). Overdubbing vocals, handclaps, tambourine, piano, and flugelhorn onto Dear Prudence.

1969--UK release of the Jack Bruce LP Songs For a Tailor, which contains the song Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out of Tune. George Harrison, using the pseudonym “L'Angelo Misterioso,” plays guitar on the song. The LP was reeleased in the US on October 6, 1969.

1977--Three people are arrested after trying to disinter Elvis Presley’s body from its resting place at the Forest Hill cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis is later moved to a grave site at Graceland.

1985--Paul McCartney purchases, at auction, a crude recording of The Beatles performing at the Cavern Club in July 1962, for which he pays £2,100. The tape is reported to include the following tracks: Hey! Baby, If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody, Hippy Hippy Shake, Please Mr. Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, Ask Me Why, Sharing You, Your Feets Too Big, Words of Love, Till There Was You, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, I Forgot to Remember to Forget, Matchbox (with vocal by Pete Best), Shimmy Shake, Memphis, Young Blood, and Dream Baby. [Note: the song Dizzy Miss Lizzie is often spelled "Dizzy Miss Lizzy".]

1986--The former “American Bandstand” studio, at the original home of WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The studio is located at 4548 Market Street.

1991--The Supreme Soviet, the parliament of the USSR, suspends all activities of the Communist Party, bringing an end to the party’s 75-year controlling regime in the Soviet Union.

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