History offers
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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.

1876--Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his invention of the telephone.

1926--The first successful transatlantic radio-telephone conversation takes place between New York and London.

1933--The game of "Monopoly" is invented by Charles Darrow. He later sold his rights to the game to Parker Brothers and became a millionaire at age 46.

1955--The stage play, "Peter Pan," starring Mary Martin as Peter Pan and Cyril Richard as Captain Hook, is presented as an American television special for the first time.

1955--Carl Perkins' Blue Suede Shoes enters the R&B chart. It is the first time a C&W artist has crossed over to the R&B chart.

1961--The Beatles perform at the Cassanova Club, Liverpool.

1962--The Beatles record their first radio appearance, at the Playhouse Theatre, Hulme, Manchester, for the BBC radio program "Teenager's Turn: Here We Go." After a rehearsal, The Beatles put on their trademark suits for the first time and, along with the other artists appearing on the program, record the show in front of a teenage audience. The Beatles perform three songs, all cover versions: Dream Baby, Memphis, and Please Mr. Postman. The show is broadcast the following afternoon, March 8.

1963--The Beatles perform at the Elizabethan Ballroom, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. The Beatles headline a four-act bill of groups managed by Brian Epstein. Supporting The Beatles are Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Big Three, and Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas. Two hired buses transport all of the performers, along with 80 devoted Liverpool fans.

1964--I Want to Hold Your Hand is the #1 single in the US for the 6th straight week.

1964--The Beatles take the weekend off from filming their first movie, "A Hard Day's Night."

1964--The Dave Clark Five bring their Tottenham sound to "The Ed Sullivan Show" for the first time, two weeks after The Beatles made their third appearance on the show. Inexplicably, The Dave Clark Five went on to appear 18 more times on the Sullivan program.

1964--Capitol Records is besieged with requests for heavyweight boxing champ Cassius Clay's album, I Am the Greatest. It's in big demand because of Clay's defeat of Sonny Liston last month. Sales are expected to reach 500,000 copies and Clays says, "I'm better and prettier than Chubby Checker."

1965--The Beatles in the Bahamas shooting their second movie, "Help!" Filming is for the "temple" scenes, with the shooting taking place at a wretched hospital for handicapped children and the elderly. The Beatles are disgusted by conditions in the hospital.

1967--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). Additional overdubs are recorded for Lovely Rita, including harmony vocals, effects, and the ending percussive sound of a piece of toilet paper being blown through a haircomb. The session begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends at 2:30 a.m.

1967--At the Bluecoat Chambers, in John Lennon’s hometown of Liverpool, Yoko Ono performs a “Concert of Music for the Mind.” The following day, she lectures to Liverpool College of Art students. “There are never any sounds at my concerts,“ she explains to them, “because the real music is in people’s minds.”

1971--Staff at the EMI factory in Middlesex work overtime to press a “cleaned-up” version of the Power To The People / Open Your Box single. A spokesman for Apple explained, “The original lyrics of Open Your Box said, ‘Open your trousers, open your skirt, open your legs and open your thighs.’ The last words in each case, have now been changed, with the consent of John and Yoko, to ‘houses, church, lakes and eyes.’” When asked if John and Yoko objected to the censorship, the spokesman said, “No. They just wanted to get the record out.”

1975--In London, the audience at the Hammersmith Odeon learns about Chuck Berry's unusual concert practices when he walks off stage after 58 minutes. Berry defends himself by saying he was contracted to play only 45 minutes. He added, "They wouldn't turn the house lights on. I always have them on for my last number."

1976--A likeness of Elton John is put on display at London's Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. He is the first rock figure so accorded the honor since The Beatles were first immortalized in wax back in March 1964.

1982--BBC Radio broadcasts a two-hour special program, "The Beatles at the BEEB," featuring selections from tapes of The Beatles' BBC performances in the early 1960s.

1986--Yoko Ono’s world tour moves on to Frankfurt, West Germany.

1999--George Harrison attends the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. He is interviewed by the Melbourne Herald Sun and is asked when his next album will be released. He says: “I don’t know. Maybe next month, maybe not. Maybe sometime, maybe not. I’m saving them up for when I kick the bucket. Some people will really want it then and I will sell more copies!”

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