This is the year the boys change the name of their band several times, trying to present a fresh name at various auditions and to please promoters and prospective record producers.

The group goes from 'The Quarry Men' to 'The Silver Beetles', to 'Long John and the Silver Beetles' and several variations on that theme.
John and Paul even do an act as 'The Nerk Twins'!

Nobody knows for sure who actually thought of it first, but one day John and Stu Sutcliffe jointly announce that the band ought to be called 'The Beatles', with an "a"!  The rest is history. 

May 5:
Allan Williams, the owner of the 'Jacaranda' and 'The Blue Angel" clubs, signs on as the band's first (and part time) manager.
(Williams later wrote a book "The Man who Gave the Beatles Away" about the experience.)

August 17:
The Beatles, including their new drummer Pete Best and Allan Williams, driving his van, make their first trip to Germany for an engagement at the Indra Club in Hamburg. The club, located on the 'Grosse Freiheit' near the Reeperbahn, in a seedy harbor section of town, is raided and closed down by police on October 3rd.

October 4:
The band moves to the 'Kaiserkeller', a somewhat better establishment, where they meet Ringo Starr, who's playing there with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

October 15:
John, Paul, George, Ringo and Lou Walters, a member of the Hurricanes, play a recording session doing George Gershwin's "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.

November 21:
After occasionally performing at the 'Top Ten Club' in addition to their 'Kaiserkeller' contract work (angering their Kk employer), and planning to move to the Top Ten altogether, the Beatles' first Hamburg engagement comes to an abrupt halt, when the band is found to be working without a work permit. Underage George Harrison is served deportation papers for illegally working in a night club. 

December 5:
Paul and Pete Best  are arrested for allegedly starting a fire. They are taken from the Reeperbahn Police Station to the airport in handcuffs and shipped back to England.
George, already making his way back by boat and train, arrives home soon after them and John follows a few days later. Stuart Sutcliffe decides to stay on in Germany with his fiancee Astrid Kirchherr and quits the band.

December 27:
Regrouping in Liverpool, the Beatles perform at the Litherland Town Hall and create something of an unexpected fan frenzy.