January 11:
"Please Please Me", the Beatles' second single, is released in the U.K..
February 11:
In one day, during a marathon 10 hour session, the Beatles record ten songs which, together with the
previously cut "Love Me Do", "P.S. I Love You", "Ask Me Why" and "Please Please Me" make up their first full album, also titled "Please Please Me".
February 22:
The "Please Please
Me" single goes to #1 on the British charts. (It stays there for two weeks.)
March 22:
The "Please Please
Me" album is released in the U.K. and becomes an immediate hit, making #1 on the charts
and remaining at the top for 29 weeks. (Released in the United States in July as "Introducing the Beatles" it generates only disappointing sales.)
April 8:
John Charles
Julian Lennon is born at 7:45 am in Liverpool, England, to John Lennon
and Cynthia (Powell) Lennon.
August 3:
The Beatles play
their 274th and last gig at the Cavern Club, heading a bill with the Merseybeats,
the Escorts,
Johnny Ringo
and the Colts, the Roadrunners and the Sapphires.
(None of them
performed at the club again after that, except Paul McCartney, who did
a solo show in late 1999.)
October 13:
The Beatles appear
on British ITV's popular variety television show “Sunday Night at the London Paladium”,
which reaches an estimated 15 million viewers. (The hysterical audience reaction that night
is generally considered by most Beatle biographers and researchers to be the genesis of Beatlemania in Europe and the beginning of the group's phenomenal
world wide popularity.)
October 17:
The group records
the first of seven Annual Christmas Messages for their fans, for distribution
through the Beatles Fan Club. They were later combined into an album, also exclusively
for fan club members.
November 4:
The Beatles appear
at the Royal Command Performance, performing for the Queen Mother, Princess
Margaret, Lord Snowdon and other royals. Before beginning the last number, "Twist and Shout," John teases the crowd with "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap their hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." (A comment that would
"go down in history".)
November 22:
The group's second album "With the Beatles", featuring "All My Loving," "Please Mr.
Postman" "Roll Over Beethoven" and others, is released in the U.K.,
shooting to the top position on the British charts and remaining
there for 21 weeks. (It succeeded "Please Please Me" in the number one spot, and together the two hits topped the album charts for 51 consecutive weeks.)
November 29:
The single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is released in the U.K. and immediately
hits number one on the charts.
December 13:
A press release
issued by CBS appears in American newspapers:
THE BEATLES OF
LONDON TO MAKE U.S. TELEVISION DEBUT ON SULLIVAN SHOW.
"The Beatles,
wildly popular quartet of English recording stars, will make their first
trip to the United States Feb. 7 for their American television debut on
"The Ed Sullivan Show," Sundays, Feb. 9 and 16 (8:00-9:00 PM, PST) on the
CBS Television Network. Their first appearance will be done at Studio 50
in New York, and their second at the Hotel Deauville in Miami Beach, Fla."
December 23:
Capitol Records starts an advertising campaign with “The Beatles Are Coming” stickers slapped "on any friendly surface" by their promotional staff, and their sales representatives ordered to make business calls to radio stations and record stores wearing Beatle wigs.
December 26:
The single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is released in the U.S. and hits #1 on the charts. (It
stays in the top spot for seven weeks.)
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