John Lennon and Beatles History for AprilHistory offers
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THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON APRIL 24


John Lennon tries in vain to put a Christmas present into a British letterbox. 1824--The prolific English novelist Anthony Trollope is born. Trollope worked for years in the English postal system as he pursued his writing in his free time. Trollope, as a postal official, conceived the idea of the sidewalk post office “kiosk” (as the British would say) or letterbox.

Marconi, inventor of the radio.1874--Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian physicist who invented the radio, is born.

1888--The Eastman Kodak Company is established.

1916--The Easter Rising, an insurrection aimed at setting up an Irish Republic, began in Dublin.

1929--The first non-stop England-to-India flight takes-off.

1953--Queen Elizabeth II knights Winston Churchill. He refused a peerage after he left Downing Street, because he had made his career in the House of Commons.

1960--John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performing at the Fox and Hounds Pub in Caversham, Berkshire, appear for the second and final time as "The Nerk Twins."

1961--The Beatles perform at the Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, West Germany.

The classy and handsome Harry Belafonte.1961--Brian Epstein arrives in Hamburg to attend a course in record retailing management, run by Deutsche Grammophon.

1961--Bob Dylan earns a flat $50 session fee for playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte’s Midnight Special. It is his recording debut.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany.

1962--MIT sends a TV signal by satellite for the first time, from California to Massachusetts.

1963--The Beatles appear at the Majestic Ballroom, Finsbury Park, London. About 2,000 people are in attendance for this "Mersey Beat Showcase."

1964--The last day of filming for The Beatles' first movie "A Hard Day's Night," at Edgehill Road, West Ealing, London. This final bit is for Ringo Starr's solo sequence: he drapes his coat over some puddles for a lady to cross over unmuddied, but the final puddle is not a puddle at all, but a rather large hole in the road with a workman in it. In eight weeks, The Beatles had completed filming for what would become hailed as one of the best "pop" films of all time, in addition to its being a classic comedy. In the afternoon, The Beatles celebrate with an end-of-movie party in a private hall behind The Turks Head pub. The movie would premiere in London on July 6. The BBC obtained the television rights to unused footage from the filming of "A Hard Day's Night" and produced a 28-minute documentary called "Follow the Beatles"; it would be broadcast on August 3.
David Bowie in the mid-1960s.
1965--Location shooting for the movie "Help!" at Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, London. Shooting a scene where The Beatles are walking down a narrow alley and emerge onto the Thames River towpath; they realize that they in danger from "thugs" dressed as bag-pipers and seek shelter inside the City Barge public house (where Ringo falls through a trap door and meets up with a tiger). John, Paul, and George escape by diving through the pub's glass window front, landing in the street outside.

1968--Apple Records refuses to sign David Bowie.

1969--A promotional film for The Beatles' song Get Back is broadcast (in black and white) on UK television, on the program "Tops of the Pops."

Picture sleeve for the controversial John Lennon single, Woman Is the Nigger of the World. The song was banned on many radio stations for the use of the racial slur, even though it was being used to make a point about any kind of slavery.1969--The lawsuit between The Beatles and Triumph Investment Trust (owners of Nemperor Holdings / NEMS Enterprises) is settled out of court.

1969--Paul McCartney announces there is no truth to the rumors that he is dead.

1971--The Lennons attempt to leave Palma airport for the Virgin Islands, but are stopped by police for further questioning over the aledged abduction of Kyoko. Their departure is delayed for several hours.

1972--US release of John and Yoko / Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory single Woman Is the Nigger of the World / Sisters, O Sisters (Apple). 5 weeks on Billboard chart; highest position #57. Many US radio stations refuse to play the controversial song.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were on the popular Dick Cavett (talk) Show on several occasions.1972--John Lennon and Yoko Ono (with Elephant's Memory Band) appear on the Dick Cavett Show to launch Woman Is The Nigger Of The World / Sisters, O Sisters. After the show, John declares in an interview that he is being followed by agents of the US government and that his phone is tapped.

1976--The Wings’ album, Wings At The Speed Of Sound, reaches No. 1 in the American charts. Paul McCartney, happy with the news, makes an evening visit to John and Yoko’s Dakota apartment. By chance, John, eager to see appearances by Raquel Welch and John Sebastian, is watching the NBC-TV comedy show “Saturday Night Live.” The show just happens to feature the famous Lorne Michaels “Beatles Reunion” offer. With both John and Paul watching, Michaels delivers his legendary speech, unbeknownst to him that two of the former Beatles are actually tuned in. John Lennon recalls the evening: “Paul was visiting us at our place in the Dakota with Linda. He and I were watching it and we went ‘ha-ha wouldn’t it be funny if we went down?’ And we almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into the cab, but we were too tired.” Later, Paul and Linda leave the Dakota as John and Yoko begin watching the sci-fi classic film, “The Time Machine.”

The IBM PC got the home computing revolution off to a big start, making it affordable for almost everyone to have a computer at their disposal.1981--The IBM-PC (personal computer) is introduced.

1986-- Sadler’s Wells in London is the venue for the world premiere of “The Dream Is Over,” a ballet choreographed by Christopher Bruce to music from the John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band album.

For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net

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