January 1:
The band begins filming "Let it Be".

January 13:
Apple Records releases "Yellow Submarine" LP. It reaches #2 in the U.S. and #4 in the U.K.

January 18:
John Lennon reveals to "Disc and Music Echo" that Apple Records is in complete financial chaos: "Apple is losing money. If it carries on like this, we'll be broke in six months."

January 30:
The Beatles last "live" public appearance (with organist Billy Preston) is held on the windswept roof of the Apple building at 3 Savile Row. People on neighboring rooftops are waving at the Beatles singing to each other in the wind. The boys do four songs until after about 40 minutes the police arrives to stop the performance, which is disrupting the routine of the business district.

February 3:
Allen Klein (Rolling Stones manager) convinces John, George and Ringo that the Beatles are being mismanaged and cheated out of millions, by Brian Epstein. The three appoint him to manage the group's business affairs, over the objections of Paul McCartney, who prefers his fiancee Linda's father and brother's firm Eastman & Eastman.

February 10:
After an argument with John and Paul, George Harrison temporarily quits the band.

March 12:
Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman at St. John's Wood Church in London, with the Reverend Noel Perry-Gore officiating.

George and Patti Harrison's home is raided and they are charged with possession of cannabis (marijuana).

This day marks the birth of the "Apple Scruffs", a group of female fans given to stalk 3 Savile Row, Abbey Road, Trident and Olympic recording studios, as well as the Beatles' homes, waiting for an appearance of a beloved Beatle.

March 20:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono are married by Cecil Wheeler at the British Consulate in Gibraltar.

March 25 - 31:
John and Yoko hold a series of "Bed-Ins" in room 902 at the Amsterdam Hilton in the Netherlands.
Explained John later: "When we got married, we knew our honeymoon was going to be public anyway, so we decided to make a statement. We sat in bed and talked to reporters for seven days. It was hilarious."

March 28:
ATV announces negotiations to buy Northern Songs.

March 31:
George and Patti Harrison are fined in court for possession of cannabis (marijuana).

April 1:
John andYoko appear before the press in a "bag" in Vienna, Austria, in what might be called the birth of "bagism".
Years later, in a 1980 Playboy interview, Yoko Ono addressed the persistent rumor of having made love in the bag: "We never made love in a bag. People probably imagined we were making love. It was just, all of us are in a bag, you know. The point was the outline of the bag, the movement of the bag: how much we see of a person. Inside there might be a lot going on. Or maybe nothing's going on".

April 3:
Keyboardist Billy Preston signs on with Apple

This came about, as he recalls, because: "I was with Ray Charles in London and George was in the audience and he recognized me and called me the next day and invited me over to see the guys. When I went over, they were in the studio, you know, recording and filming and they asked me to sit in with them. You know, I wasn't expecting anything. It was a thrill enough just being there and playing with them".

George Harrison later said, he brought Billy in because "People behave nicely when you bring a guest in because they don't really want anybody to know that they are so bitchy. Straight away it just became 100 percent improvement in the vibe in the room."

Billy performed on the "Let it Be" and "Abbey Road" albums and acted, as George Martin later acknowledged, as an "emollient" to buffer the on-going friction between band members.

George Harrison later produced Preston's first two albums on Apple: "That's The Way God Planned It" and "Encouraging Words".

April 22:
John files an official declaration in London, changing his name from John Winston Lennon to "John Ono Lennon".

May 5:
Apple Records releases "Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down" single, featuring Billy Preston.

May 25:
John andYoko are detained by immigration authorities in Toronto, Canada, for over two and a half hours because of Lennon's previous drug conviction.

May 26:
John and Yoko hold another "Bed-In", in room 1742 of the Hotel La Reine Elizabeth in Montreal.

June 1:
John and Yoko record "Give Peace A Chance" John's first solo record, although still credited as a "Lennon/McCartney" song, in Canada. Featured, among others, are Tommy Smothers and Timothy Leary, clapping in the background.

June 3:
The Lennons, with John carrying Yoko's 5-year old daughter Kyoko, attend a peace seminar at the Ottawa University Arts Building organized by Allan Rock, Canadian Federal Health Minister.

June 4:
Apple Records releases "Ballad of John & Yoko" / "Old Brown Shoe" single. It reaches #1 in the UK, but only makes it to #8 in the US, because of objections over the use of "Christ" in the chorus.

July 1:
The Beatles begin recording sessions for the "Abbey Road" album.

July 7:
"Give Peace a Chance / Remember Love" single by the Plastic Ono Band is released by Apple Records.
John Lennon: "We all have Hitler in us, but we also have love and peace. So why not give peace a chance?" The record hits #2 in the UK, #14 in the US.

The Beatles terminate their relationship with NEMS, Brian Epstein's company.

August 8:
The famous cover photo for the "Abbey Road" LP is shot at 11:35 in the morning.

August 22:
The Beatles' last photographic session together.

September 5:
Allen Klein successfully re-negotiates the Beatles' contracts with EMI for the USA, Canada and Mexico. The band now will earn 58 cents per album until 1972 and 72 cents thereafter. (When the Beatles first signed up with EMI, they only made 6 cents per album and their 1966 contract raised that to 39 cents.The new EMI agreement requires the band to release at least two albums per year through 1976.

September 13:
During John & Yoko's second visit to Canada, the couple performs live with Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, and Alan White at the "Rock 'n' Roll Revival" at Varsity Stadium in Toronto and record the material for an album, to be released as "The Plastic Ono Band - Live Peace in Toronto 1969".

September 7:
The Beatles ABC television cartoon, airing Sunday mornings in the US, is cancelled.

September 17:
The big "Paul Is Dead Hoax" begins in America. It originates in Des Moines, Iowa, with an article by college editor Tim Harper for the school's "Drake Times-Delphic" entitled: "Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?" On October 12, radio station WKNR-FM airs a conversation with a caller who claims to have found "hidden clues" to McCartney's demise in various Beatles songs. On October 21, the Chicago Sun-Times covers the story, lending it a certain legitimacy.

September 20:
John Lennon informs Allen Klein and the boys of his intention to leave the band.
Allen asks him not to make a public announcement, because of their newly negotiated royalty contract with EMI and John agrees not to "make an event out of it". His decision never gets to the press.

October 1:
Apple Records releases the "Abbey Road" LP.

October 6:
Apple Records releases "Something" / "Come Together" single.

October 20:
Apple Records releases "Wedding Album" LP by John & Yoko.
& the Plastic Ono Band's "Cold Turkey / Don't worry Kyoko".

November 7:
Long feared "dead" Paul McCartney is featured on the front cover of LIFE Magazine, which carries an interview by John Neary entitled "The Case of the Missing Beatle: Paul is still with us."

November 26:
John Lennon returns his MBE award to Buckingham Palace, as a political protest against Britain's involvement in Biafra and the fact that most other honorees received theirs for bravery in war. (Also because he's miffed that his solo single, "Cold Turkey" is quickly slipping down the UK music charts!)

December 12:
Apple Records releases "The Plastic Ono Band: Live Peace in Toronto" by John & Yoko.

December 16:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as part of John's "Peace Campaign", arrange to put up eleven billboards in major cities around the world, proclaiming:

December 19:
The "Beatles Seventh Christmas Record" is distributed to fan club members.

December 23:
On their third visit to Canada, John & Yoko meet with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and John tells the Canadian press about his pro-active peace movement:
"Peace is no violence, no frustration, no fear," adding, in a CBC interview: "If I smile at you, you're liable to smile back. We're smiling at the world."