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.
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON APRIL 18
1775--Paul Revere rides from Charlestown to Lexington to warn the colonists in Massachussetts of the arrival of British troops at the start of the War of American Independence.
1877--In France, Charles Cros sets down the principles of recorded sound and its reproduction. Unfortunately for Cros and history, Thomas Edison later claimed to the inventor of the phonograph.
1946--Child star Hayley Mills is born in London. She would star in such films as "Pollyana" and "The Moon Spinners" for Walt Disney. She took on her first mature role in the Paul McCartney-scored film, "The Family Way" in the mid-1960s.
1949--Ireland withdraws from the British Commonwealth.
1955--Albert Einstein, German born scientist and mathematician, dies in his sleep at Princeton, New Jersey. He formulated the Theory of Relativity and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.
1961--The Beatles perform at the Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, West Germany.
1962--The Beatles perform at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany.
1963--The Beatles perform at London's Royal Albert Hall for the first time. The occasion is a live concert, performed in front of an audience, for a live BBC radio broadcast. The show, called "Swinging Sound '63," is divided into two halves, with The Beatles appearing in both halves, but only the second half is broadcast on the radio. In the first half, The Beatles perform Please Please Me and Misery. In the second half, they play Twist and Shout and From Me to You, taking the producers by surprise; they had rehearsed the song Thank You Girl instead of Twist and Shout, but substituted the song unannounced. At the end of the show, The Beatles join the other artists in performing a grand finale version of Mack the Knife. The performers on the show were Del Shannon, The Springfields, Lance Percival, Rolf Harris, The Vernons Girls, Kenny Lynch, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, and George Melly. After the show, Paul McCartney meets, for the first time, actress and "teen personality" Jane Asher, who inspires the song, "I Saw Her Standing There."
1964--Can't Buy Me Love is the #1 single in the US for the third week in a row.
1964--In the morning, The Beatles work at Twickenham Film Studios, adding and re-recording bits of dialogue for "A Hard Day's Night." In the afternoon, they rehearse for a television special to be called "Around the Beatles," featuring The Beatles and other musical artists.
1964--The Beach Boys are on "American Bandstand," singing I Get Around and Fun Fun Fun. The Beatles are guests via telephone on the same show. (After The Beach Boys sing, the rest of the show is all Beatles.)
1964--Peter and Gordon’s World Without Love hits #1 in England. It was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
1965--Cilla Black makes her debut on “Sunday Night at the London Palladium.”
1966--Opening of Cilla Black's season at the Savoy Hotel, London. Brian Epstein presents her with a portable television to celebrate the event.
1966--The Cavern is sold for £5,500 to Joseph Davey, from Wallasey; he was pastry cook and owner of a restaurant.
1966--John Lennon and George Harrison see The Lovin' Spoonful at the Marquee Club, London. George meets Eric Clapton for the second time.
1968--John Lennon and Ringo Starr attend a party to launch Bill Records.
1968--London Bridge (not the real one) is sold to a US oil company and is re-erected in Arizona.
1969--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studios Three and Two, EMI Studios, London). Completion of Old Brown Shoe. Then George Harrison and John Lennon go into Studio Two and record about a dozen guitar overdubs to create the mountainous climax for I Want You (She's So Heavy).
1970--The Beatles' single Let It Be is #1 in the US charts for the second straight week.
1970--Therapist Arthur Janov suggests to John Lennon that he should pay a visit to his first wife, Cynthia, and their son, Julian. But the family get-together is halted when Cynthia’s housekeeper informs the party that “Yoko has just called and is threatening to commit suicide unless John returns home immediately.”
1970--”Fluxfest” continues with John Lennon offering two New York bus tickets to “Tickets by John and Yoko.”
1972--An Immigration and Naturalization Service hearing is held in New York concerning the deportation order pending against John Lennon. When asked at a press conference why it is so important for him to remain in America, John says: “Well...the judge who gave us temporary custody of Kyoko said we must bring the child up on the continent of America, and we’re quite happy with that. Yoko has been here half her life. She was educated here...fifteen years she’s lived here. She has an American child, she was married to an American citizen, and now she is married to an English citizen...and that’s caused all the trouble. But we love to be here.” Evidence uncovered later will show that the Nixon administration feared that Lennon would be involved in demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in Miami.
1975--UK release of the John Lennon single Stand By Me / Move Over Ms. L (Apple).
1975--In an appearance pre-taped in New York, John Lennon appears on the BBC television program "Old Grey Whistle Test." He sings Stand By Me and Slippin' and Slidin'.
1975--John Lennon is at the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in New York City, recording an appearance for the ATV / ITC TV special “Salute to Sir Lew Grade: The Master Showman.” John’s appearance is part of a related settlement arising from a publishing dispute over material co-written by he and Yoko Ono. For tonight’s show, John, sporting a pair of dark round-lensed glasses, appears with his long hair pulled back from his face, and he is dressed in a bright red jumpsuit covered with zippers. John plays acoustic guitar on Slippin’ and Slidin’, Stand By Me, and Imagine. He is backed by the eight-piece band, Etcetera, who rather strangely are wearing face masks attached to the back of their heads. When asked about the masks, John says: “It was a sardonic reference to my feelings on Lew Grade’s personality!” Etcetera is actually the band BOMF, which stands for “Brothers of Mother Fuckers,” a name still visible on their drum during the performance. John returns at the end of the show to take a bow along with the rest of the cast, and this time he is dressed in a more formal blue shirt and white trousers, along with his trademark cap and scarf. The 52-minute videotaped show is first shown in America on June 13, 1975, with the UK TV screening taking place a week later. Both versions cut John’s performance of Stand By Me. This turned out to be John Lennon’s last live public performance.
1996--Mike Leander, a frequent collaborator with Marianne Faithfull on her 1960s recordings, dies on the Spanish island of Majorca. He also scored The Beatles song, She's Leaving Home for the "Sgt. Pepper" LP.
History offers
1775--Paul Revere rides from Charlestown to Lexington to warn the colonists in Massachussetts of the arrival of British troops at the start of the War of American Independence.
1877--In France, Charles Cros sets down the principles of recorded sound and its reproduction. Unfortunately for Cros and history, Thomas Edison later claimed to the inventor of the phonograph.
1963--The Beatles perform at London's Royal Albert Hall for the first time. The occasion is a live concert, performed in front of an audience, for a live BBC radio broadcast. The show, called "Swinging Sound '63," is divided into two halves, with The Beatles appearing in both halves, but only the second half is broadcast on the radio. In the first half, The Beatles perform Please Please Me and Misery. In the second half, they play Twist and Shout and From Me to You, taking the producers by surprise; they had rehearsed the song Thank You Girl instead of Twist and Shout, but substituted the song unannounced. At the end of the show, The Beatles join the other artists in performing a grand finale version of Mack the Knife. The performers on the show were Del Shannon, The Springfields, Lance Percival, Rolf Harris, The Vernons Girls, Kenny Lynch, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, and George Melly. After the show, Paul McCartney meets, for the first time, actress and "teen personality" Jane Asher, who inspires the song, "I Saw Her Standing There."
1964--In the morning, The Beatles work at Twickenham Film Studios, adding and re-recording bits of dialogue for "A Hard Day's Night." In the afternoon, they rehearse for a television special to be called "Around the Beatles," featuring The Beatles and other musical artists.
1964--Peter and Gordon’s World Without Love hits #1 in England. It was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
1969--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studios Three and Two, EMI Studios, London). Completion of Old Brown Shoe. Then George Harrison and John Lennon go into Studio Two and record about a dozen guitar overdubs to create the mountainous climax for I Want You (She's So Heavy).
1975--John Lennon is at the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in New York City, recording an appearance for the ATV / ITC TV special “Salute to Sir Lew Grade: The Master Showman.” John’s appearance is part of a related settlement arising from a publishing dispute over material co-written by he and Yoko Ono. For tonight’s show, John, sporting a pair of dark round-lensed glasses, appears with his long hair pulled back from his face, and he is dressed in a bright red jumpsuit covered with zippers. John plays acoustic guitar on Slippin’ and Slidin’, Stand By Me, and Imagine. He is backed by the eight-piece band, Etcetera, who rather strangely are wearing face masks attached to the back of their heads. When asked about the masks, John says: “It was a sardonic reference to my feelings on Lew Grade’s personality!” Etcetera is actually the band BOMF, which stands for “Brothers of Mother Fuckers,” a name still visible on their drum during the performance. John returns at the end of the show to take a bow along with the rest of the cast, and this time he is dressed in a more formal blue shirt and white trousers, along with his trademark cap and scarf. The 52-minute videotaped show is first shown in America on June 13, 1975, with the UK TV screening taking place a week later. Both versions cut John’s performance of Stand By Me. This turned out to be John Lennon’s last live public performance.
