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.

1521--Martin Luther is excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.

1825--Scottish factory owner, Robert Owen, buys 30,000 acres in Indiana as a site for the New Harmony utopian community.

1847--The California town of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco.

1892--J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien, author of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” is born.

1926--Sir George Martin, who produced some of The Beatles' most memorable recordings, is born in London.

1938--March of Dimes is established to fight polio.

1941--Songwriter, producer and Brian Wilson collaborator, Van Dyke Parks, is born.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club twice -- at lunchtime and then again at night.

1963--On a short tour of Scotland, The Beatles perform at Two Red Shoes Ballroom, Elgin, Morayshire.

1964--The Beatles perform at the Astoria Cinema, Finsbury Park, London. Appearing in two performances of "The Beatles' Christmas Show".

1964--A film clip of The Beatles, taken from the BBC film documentary "The Mersey Sound," is broadcast on US television on "The Jack Paar Show" (NBC-TV). This is before their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." [Barry Miles reports the date of this broadcast as January 1, 1964.]

1964--I Want to Hold Your Hand reaches #1 in the Australian singles charts.

1966--Promotional videos of The Beatles songs We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper are shown on the US television show "Hullabaloo."

1969--Newark, New Jersey police seize 30,000 copies of John and Yoko's LP Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, declaring that the album cover, which has photos of John and Yoko nude, is pornographic. In Chicago, vice squad officers close down a record shop for displaying the cover.

1969--The Beatles spend a second lousy day rehearsing and filming at Twickenham Film Studios. The group jams fitfully through a batch of rock ’n’ roll oldies, and unearth one of their own, One After 909, which they had recorded, but didn’t release, in 1963. [The orignal recording was later included in Anthology 1.] Lennon makes his boredom felt as The Beatles turn their attention to Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. He also toys with an early version of Gimme Some Truth, which was to later appear on his Imagine album.

1970--With John Lennon away in Denmark, the other Beatles meet in Studio Two of EMI Studios, London, to complete the "Get Back" tapes (now to be released as Let It Be, the movie and the record). Since the movie shows George playing his song I Me Mine, The Beatles needed to record it. They record 16 takes of the basic track, then add overdubs. The track is 1 min. 34 sec. long, but Phil Spector will re-edit it to be 2 min. 25 sec. long. The original, pre-Spector short track was released on The Beatles Anthology 3 (Disc two, Track 22).

1971--Paul and Linda McCartney (and family) head off for New York to work on the album Ram. Before sessions can begin, Paul arranges for four days of auditions to find the best musicians in town.

1972--Don McLean receives a gold record for his 8-minute-plus (8:32) hit, American Pie. With references to Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and the Chevy, it summed up a good deal of the Baby Boomer generation experience.

1973--Ringo Starr is interviewed by David Wigg for the BBC Radio One program "Scene Heard," which is transmitted on January 6 and will later form a part of the 1976 Polydor double-album of interviews entitled The Beatles Tapes. [This was later released on CD.]

1974--Bob Dylan and The Band kick off a six-week tour at Chicago Stadium. It's Dylan's first American tour in eight years.

1977--Apple Computer is incorporated.

1979--Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel chain, dies at age 91.

1981--John and Yoko's LP Double Fantasy reaches #1 in the UK charts.

1981--John Lennon's single (Just Like) Starting Over reaches #1 in the UK charts.

1981--John Lennon's single (Just Like) Starting Over is #1 in the US charts for the second straight week.

1986--BBC2 in England reruns The Beatles’ 1968 film, Yellow Submarine.

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