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role The Beatles
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1412--Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc) is born.

1929--Wilbert Harrison, who scored a No. 1 hit in 1959 with the perennial, Kansas City, is born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1941--Franklin Delano Roosevelt gives his "Four Freedoms" speech (freedon of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear).

1950--"Happy As Larry" opens at the Coronet Theater in New York City.

1957--Elvis Presley makes his seventh and final appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He performs for over 20 minutes, singing Hound Dog, Don't Be Cruel, Love Me Tender, Heartbreak Hotel, Peace in the Valley, Too Much and When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again.

1961--The Beatles perform at St. John's Hall, Bootle, Lancashire. The Beatles' growing reputation is evidenced by the near-capacity crowd. The Beatles receive a fee of £6.5 ($9.80).

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club -- a night show.

1963--On the final appearance of their five-stop tour of Scotland (the first of which was cancelled due to inclement weather), The Beatles perform at Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire.

1964--The Beatles perform at the Astoria Cinema, Finsbury Park, London. Appearing in two performances of "The Beatles' Christmas Show." After their performance, The Beatles go to the "Talk of the Town" to see Alma Cogan's performance, but they arrive too late to see her show.

1964--The Rolling Stones embark on their first tour as the headline act, with opening act, The Ronettes.

1965--The Beatles put on two performances of "Another Beatles Christmas Show" at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1966--Two days before it begins a three week reign in the No. 1 spot, The Beatles' We Can Work It Out is awarded a gold record. It had entered the chart on December 18, 1965 and will stay on the Hot 100 for 12 weeks.

1967--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). More overdubs are recorded for Penny Lane. Paul McCartney adds a bass line, Ringo Starr adds drums, John Lennon adds rhythm guitar and conga drums. John and George Martin also add piano parts. Handclaps are also dubbed in.

1968--The Beatles' US album Magical Mystery Tour reaches #1 in the US charts.

1968--The Beatles' single Hello Goodbye is #1 in the US charts for the second straight week.

1969--The Beatles struggle through a third day of filming (at Twickenham Film Studios) for the "Get Back" project. Without any clear direction, and on an uncomfortable sound stage, nothing much gels and resentments flare up again and again. The rehearsal sessions meander along, before the band breaks to discuss the direction of their project. John Lennon remains silent throughout, leaving Yoko Ono to make increasingly bizarre suggestions on his behalf. While Paul, George and Ringo debate the size of the audience they should perform to, Yoko reckons they should play only to members of the royal family, or perhaps be filmed performing in their homes, rather than in public. Disastrous renditions of Don’t Let Me Down and Two of Us follow, with Lennon still refusing to make any creative decisions.

1971--Driven by their personal assistant, Anthony Fawcett, John and Yoko head to the Liverpool docks in order to depart by boat (en route to Japan), although they will first arrive in Miami, Florida. Prior to their departure from England (and in their white Rolls Royce), John gives Yoko a guided tour of his Liverpool hometown, which includes his original home and many historical sites relating to The Beatles, including the Cavern Club on Mathew Street. Once in Miami, John and Yoko then fly to Toronto, where they are interviewed for the CBC program "Weekend." Appearing primarily to promote their forthcoming “pop peace festival” at the Mosport auto racetrack near Toronto that coming July, the Lennons also take the opportunity to warn teenagers away from drugs. During the broadcast, John remarks: “My time on drugs was when I had no hope, and when a person is on drugs it is harder to find hope.” The couple also describe Canada as the first country to help in their peace movement, with John adding, “We were astonished when Canadian reporters treated me and Yoko like human beings.” The couple then returned by plane to Miami, where they resumed their journey to Japan, taking up residence in the Hilton Hotel, registering under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Gherkin. John and Yoko also make their exits and entrances via a fire escape in order to avoid persistent journalists. [Note: all the above took place January 6-20.]

1972--John Lennon and Yoko Ono form Joko Films, Ltd.

1973--”Yoko Goes It Alone”...Yoko Ono appears on the front cover of Melody Maker. Inside the paper is a review of her new album Approximately Infinite Universe and an interview with her, carried out over the phone to New York, by reporter Michael Watts.

1989--With no scheduled UK broadcasts in sight, the American Westwood One “Lost Lennon Tapes” radio series begins transmissions in France on all the the Europe 2 stations. It is aired in the exact same running order that had been played, almost exactly one year earlier, on the Westwood One network. For the French FM stereo transmisions, the French language versions are transmitted between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., hosted by Frederick Hubert. The original English language versons, hosted by Elliot Mintz, are transmitted later in the evening, between 12 midnight and 1:00 a.m.

1993--Bill Wyman announces that he will be leaving The Rolling Stones.

1998-- Paul McCartney’s album, Flaming Pie, is among the nominations for “The Best Album of 1997” at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. (Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind is the winner.)

1998--At the A&M Studios in Los Angeles, work resumes on Ringo Starr’s album, Vertical Man.

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