History offers
a chance
to truly
understand
how the past
impacts the now.

Follow our
daily timelime
of historical
events to
discover the
role The Beatles
played in changing
the modern world.

1948--Country great, Hank Williams, makes his first performance on KWKH’s “Louisiana Hayride” radio show.

1955--Bill Haley and the Comets appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing their hit, Rock Around the Clock.

1957--The Quarry Men perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Paul McCartney isn’t with them, because he is away at Boy Scout summer camp. The Cavern is a jazz club, but skiffle is tolerated. However, when John Lennon dares to play Hound Dog and Blue Suede Shoes, the club owner sends him a note saying, “cut out the bloody rock!” The booking had been arranged by ex-Quarry Man Nigel Whalley, who acted as the group’s manager until he was forced to resign at the end of the year, when he contracted tuberculosis.

1961--The Beatles perform at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime, and then again at night.

1963--The Beatles perform for a second night at the Springfield Ballroom, St. Saviour, Jersey, Channel Islands. After the show, John Lennon is invited to a “private party” on the island, which turns out to be an orgy. He recounts his memories of the occasion five years later in the song Polythene Pam.

1964--The US weeklies review The Beatles first feature film, “A Hard Day's Night.” “Avoid this film at all costs!” declares Time. “Some Marx Brothers surrealism!” notes Life. “Amusing and engaging!” asserts The Los Angeles Herald Examiner. (It’s a classic, you numbskulls!)

1965--Mike Smith, lead singer for The Dave Clark Five, breaks two ribs when he is pulled off the stage by overzealous fans during a show in Chicago, Illinois.

1967--George and Pattie Harrison, on a visit to San Francisco, stroll through Golden Gate Park in the Haight-Ashbury section, the focal point of the “Summer of Love.” George gives a short, unplanned street performance, using a borrowed guitar. George’s reaction to the hippie lifestyle? He finds the hippie culture to be “wasteful and naive.” Disc and Music Echo will publish an article by Derek Taylor, on his visit to Haight-Ashbury with George and Pattie.

1968--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). Recording begins for George Harrison’s song Not Guilty. It turned out to be a problematic song: out of 46 takes for the rhythm track, only five hold together to the end of the song. The Beatles will end up devoting over 100 hours to rehearsing and recording this song (a first), yet it will never be released as a finished track. John Lennon takes part as little as possible in the recording.

1969--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studios Two and Three, EMI Studios, London). Work consists of a stereo mix of Come Together. Then vocals and guitars are recorded onto The End. The lead guitar parts are outstanding, with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon trading solos.

1980--John Lennon records unreleased takes of I'm Stepping Out, Borrowed Time, and Gone From This Place.

1989--US re-release of The Beatles’ singles on 3-inch CDs: All You Need Is Love / Baby You’re a Rich Man, Hello Goodbye / I Am the Walrus, The Ballad of John and Yoko / Old Brown Shoe, Get Back / Don’t Let Me Down, and Something / Come Together (Capitol / Parlophone).

1989--UK re-release of The Beatles singles on 3-inch CDs: Get Back / Don’t Let Me Down and The Ballad of John and Yoko / Old Brown Shoe (Parlophone).

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