January 25:
"The Sensational Beatles" appear with two other groups at Hambleton Hall in Liverpool, a dance hall with a reputation for frequent fights, on and off the stage, but get by relatively unscathed.
February 14:
The Beatles perform
at a Valentines Day dance in Liverpool. The earliest known film of the
band was shot during this performance.
March 21:
The band performs at The Cavern on Mathew Street, in Liverpool's market district,
for the first time.
March 24:
The Beatles head
back for Hamburg and another gig at the Top Ten Club, whose owner, Peter
Eckhorn, has fixed the band's work permit and police problems. George is
now 18 and legal.
June 22 - 23:
The Beatles do
a set of recordings backing up British expatriate Tony Sheridan, for German
band leader and record producer Bert Kaempfert, who had seen the group
at the Top Ten. Among the German Polydor label recordings were "The Saints"
(When the Saints Go Marching In), "My Bonnie" (My Bonnie Lies Over the
Ocean), "Cry for a Shadow", "Why", "Ain't She Sweet", "Nobody's Child"
and "Take out Some Insurance on Me Baby".
July 13:
The band returns
to England.
August:
Polydor releases
the "My Bonnie"/ "The Saints" single labeled
"Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers" and it becomes a top ten hit (for Sheridan) in Germany.
(It is released in England the following January under the title "Tony Sheridan and The
Beatles".)
November 9:
Brian Epstein,
who runs the NEMS (North End Music Stores) establishment up the street from the Cavern comes down to the club to see the Beatles perform.
December 3:
Epstein offers to become the Beatles' manager (for 25%) and is accepted by John Lennon and the boys.
December 31:
The boys drive down to London (getting lost on the way) on New Years Eve for an audition at Decca Records the following day.
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