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.

1625--Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, ascends to the throne.

1790--The shoelace is invented.

1912--The first Japanese cherry blossom trees are planted in Washington, D.C.

1933--Polythene is discovered by Reginald Gibson and Eric William Fawcett.

1952--The legendary Sun label, run by Sam Phillips, begins issuing its own records.

1958--Nikita Khrushchev becomes the Soviet Premier and first Secretary of the Communist Party.

1958--CBS Labs announces the arrival of stereophonic records.

1963--The Beatles, on the Chris Montez / Tommy Roe tour, perform at the ABC Cinema in Northampton, Northamptonshire.

1964--US release of the single Why / Cry For a Shadow (MGM). 1 week on Billboard chart; position #88.

1964--The Beatles take an Easter break in the filming for their first movie, "A Hard Day's Night." John and Cynthia Lennon, along with George Harrison and his new girlfriend, Pattie Boyd, spend the weekend at the remote Dromolan Castle in County Clare, Ireland. To avoid the scandal-seeking British press, Cynthia and Pattie are forced to escape the castle in baskets of dirty laundry. Meanwhile, Paul McCartney remains in London, while Ringo Starr relaxes at the country house Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. Filming resumed on “A Hard Day’s Night” on March 31.

1964--The British Invasion makes it around the globe as The Beatles occupy the top six spots in the Australian pop chart.

1966--Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations are held in the US, Europe and Australia.

1969--Day 3 of John and Yoko's "Amsterdam Bed-In For Peace." The Lennons are given a white bicycle and the Resistentie
Orchestra pays a visit and plays some music with John.

1970--Phil Spector continues work on the Let It Be album. Dig It is cut from 12 mins. 25 secs. to a mere 49 seconds. Two short bits of John Lennon dialogue are mixed in. The first is the line, "That was 'Can You Dig It' by Georgie Wood, now we'd like to do 'Hark the Angels Come.' " The second is, "'I Dig a Pygmy' by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids. Phase one, in which Doris gets her oats."

1972--Elvis Presley records what will be his last major hit, Burning Love, which makes it to #2 in October.

1974--A petition from Beatles fans, containing over 60,000 signatures requesting a pardon for John Lennon for his 1968 drugs conviction, is delivered to Prime Minister James Callaghan at 10 Downing Street, London.

1979--After living together for five years, Eric Clapton and Pattie Harrison (George Harrison's ex-wife) are married in Tucson, Arizona. Two of Clapton's biggest hits (Layla and Wonderful Tonight) were written about her.

1981--UK release of the John Lennon / Yoko Ono single, Watching the Wheels / (Yes) I'm Your Angel (Geffen).

1987--Footwear manufacturer, Nike, begins running US TV ads using The Beatles’ song Revolution as the soundtrack. Fans are outraged by this use of Lennon’s political anthem, although the ad campaign is sanctioned by Yoko Ono.

1989--Julian Lennon’s third album, Mr. Jordan, is released.

1998--Ferdinand Porsche (founder of German sportscar maker Porsche and one of the designers of the Volkswagen Beetle under Adolf Hitler's rule) dies.

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