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1780--Pennsylvania becomes the first state in America to abolish slavery (for newborns only).

1869--US postage stamps showing scenes and pictures are issued for the first time.

1941--The first US commercial FM radio station goes on the air in Nashville, Tennessee.

1944--Roger Daltrey, of The Who, is born in Hammersmith, London, England.

1954--The US explodes a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll. Oddly, this becomes the inspiration for the name of the famous bikini swimsuit.

1957--John Lennon decides to form a skiffle group, so he and friend Pete Shotton form The Blackjacks. The name lasts only about a week, when they decide to change their name to The Quarry Men. Both John and Pete attend Quarry Bank High School for Boys, and the school song has the line, "Quarry Men, strong before our birth." The first complete line-up of The Quarry Men includes John Lennon (guitar), Pete Shotton (washboard), Colin Hanton (drums), Eric Griffiths (guitar), Rod Davis (banjo), and Bill Smith (tea-chest bass).

1957--Chess Records releases Chuck Berry's School Days.

1958--Buddy Holly and the Crickets began their only UK tour, a 25-date, twice-nightly package with Des O'Connor, Gary Miller, The Tanner Sisters and Ronnie Keene and his Orchestra.

1961--President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.

1961--The Beatles perform at Aintree Institute, Aintree, Liverpool.

1962--A joint US-UK nuclear test experiment takes place in Nevada.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime. That night they give a performance at the Storyville Jazz Club on Temple Street in Liverpool.

1963--The Beatles, on the Helen Shapiro tour, perform at the Odeon Cinema, Southport, Lancashire.

1964--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). They record three songs in three hours. I'm Happy Just to Dance With You, a song John Lennon had written for George Harrison to sing, is completed in four takes. Long Tall Sally is recorded in a single, terrific take, and I Call Your Name is completed in seven takes. [Note: Long Tall Sally and I Call Your Name were released in the US on the LP The Beatles' Second Album, but in the UK they were released on the Long Tall Sally EP. I'm Happy Just to Dance With You was included on the A Hard Day's Night LP in both countries, although the US and UK albums were quite different.]

1965--The Beatles filming their second movie, "Help!" in the Bahamas. Filming takes place at "Cafe Martinique" restaurant, and later, of Ringo Starr on a schooner with Victor Spinetti (Professor Foot), Roy Kinnear (Algernon), and Eleanor Bron (Ahme).

1965--Petula Clark's first US hit, Downtown, is awarded a gold record.

1966--A documentary film of The Beatles' Shea Stadium concert of August 15, 1965 is broadcast in the UK by the BBC.

1966--In Liverpool, over 100 youths barricade themselves inside the recently closed Cavern Club, where The Beatles began their amazing journey to international fame. They are upset about the club closing due to bankruptcy.

1966--US release of Chet Atkins LP Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles (RCA). Atkins plays Beatles songs on the record. Good friend, George Harrison, wrote the liner notes.

1967--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). A new piano track is taped for the already-mastered A Day in the Life, but this new overdub is later discarded. Recording then begins for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Seven takes are recorded.

1968--Ken Partride, a design consultant, is hired by Apple to stem the financial losses at the Apple Boutique.

1968--Country singers Johnny Cash (36) and June Carter (38) are married.

1969--Paul McCartney in the recording studio (Morgan Studios, London). Producing recordings Goodbye and Sparrow with Apple recording artist Mary Hopkin. Goodbye was written by McCartney (credited to Lennon-McCartney) for Hopkin.

1969--Dick James sells his 23% share of Northern Songs to Associated Television (ATV), owned by Sir Lew Grade. Northern Songs holds publishing rights to nearly every Lennon-McCartney composition. James makes the sale without notifying The Beatles or giving them first refusal on buying his shares. At this point, neither ATV nor The Beatles own enough shares to grab majority control of the company. A fierce competition to buy up available shares begins, and Paul McCartney secretly buys so many shares that he soon has 100,000 shares more than John Lennon. John will view this as underhanded, and it only adds to the strain on the Lennon-McCartney partnership, which is now just about undone. Still, the competition against ATV continues, causing John to later remark that the experience was like "playing Monopoly with real money." But the rift between John and Paul prevents them from acting with any real cohesiveness against ATV, and the antagonism and disarray within The Beatles' camp will lead to their loss of control over Northern Songs. Disgusted, they will liquidate their shares, retaining no control whatsoever over the bulk of their song catalog.

1969--After 88 weeks, Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band drops off the charts.

1970--Paul McCartney announces that he intends to release his first solo album in April, which conflicts with the scheduled release of Ringo Starr's Sentimental Journey and The Beatles' Let It Be. When Ringo visits Paul to discuss the problem, McCartney throws him out. Nonetheless, Ringo is sympathetic with Paul, and he manages to convince George and John to delay the release of Let It Be so that the McCartney LP can be released in April.

1970--A promotional film of The Beatles singing Two of Us and Let It Be is shown on US television, on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

1972--John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin recording songs for Some Time in New York City. (The recording sessions last until March 20.) The sessions are held at the Record Plant in New York, with Phil Spector co-producing and Elephant’s Memory serving as the Lennons’ backup band. During the sessions, John also recorded some impromptu rock and roll covers (Not Fade Away, Send Me Some Lovin’, Hound Dog, Ain’t That A Shame, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, It’ll Be Me, and Roll Over Beethoven). Photographer Bob Gruen captures the Lennons at work and playing host to celebrities, including Mick Jagger, Rudolph Nureyev, Andy Warhol, and Jerry Rubin, who all drop in to see the couple.

1973--US sales of two unauthorized four-LP boxed sets are made via television: Alpha Omega Volume I and Alpha Omega Volume II. The record sets, marketed by Audio Tape, Inc., were removed from the market, but this spurred the quick release of Beatles compilation double LPs, The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970, which were released less than a month later.

1974--John Lennon asks the US District Court for a temporary restraining order against the Immigration and Naturalization Bureau to delay a ruling on his pending deportation case (his request will be denied on May 1).

1975--At the Grammy Awards ceremony, John Lennon (with Paul Simon and Andy Williams) is a guest presenter in the category “Record of the Year.” The three take part in the following comedy routine: John: “Thank you, mother, thank you... Hello, I’m John. I used to play with my partner, Paul.” Paul Simon: “I’m Paul. I used to play with my partner, Art.” Andy Williams: “I’m Andy. I used to play with my partner, Claudine (Longet, his former wife.)” And believe it or not, the audience laughed at this. Paul McCartney receives two Grammys for Band on the Run. Yoko Ono attends the event with Lennon in a very pregnant condition. This was the couple’s first public appearance since their reconcilation after a separation of 18 months. After the ceremony, John and Yoko attend an after-show party with some of the other guests, and this becomes big news in the British papers.

1983--Under the Freedom of Information Act, Jon Wiener or the University of California, Irvine, obtains heavily censored documents relating to FBI actions against John Lennon in 1972. Wiener will sue the FBI to obtain the deleted information, using what he has already received to write his 1984 book. "Come Together." In 1991, a court will rule that the FBI must turn over the deleted files to Wiener.

1985--EMI announces that a new Beatles album containing previously unreleased tracks will be released. Unimaginatively titled "Sessions," the album is killed soon after, but bootleg copies surface before long.

1986--Yoko Ono’s world tour plays in The Hague in the Netherlands.

1993--George Martin, commenting on The Beatles' unreleased tape archive at Abbey Road Studios, states, "I've listened to all of the tapes. There are one or two interesting variations, but otherwise it's all junk. Couldn't possibly release it." Yet eight months later, he will announce that he plans to use virtually all of it in the documentary series, "The Beatles Anthology."

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