1963

February 11 - Their first LP, Please Please Me, is recorded entirely in nine hours.

March - the LP Please Please Me is released in the UK and reaches #1 in April, holding the spot until November. "From Me To You" reaches #1 two weeks after it is released.

April 8 - Charles Julian Lennon born to John and Cynthia.

May/June - the group headlines their first tour with supporting acts Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

July - the EP Twist and Shout is released in the UK and reaches #2.

August - the fourth single, "She Loves You/I'll Get You", reaches #1. The disc sells over a million copies and remains the top-selling single in the UK for 14 years.

August 3 - final performance at the Cavern Club.

August 11 - Mal Evans is hired as the Beatles' road manager

October 13 - the band's legendary performance on Britian's "Sunday Night At The London Palladium" which reaches 15 million viewers.

November 4 - The band appears on the Royal Command Performance, and which John makes his famous remark, "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap their hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelery" before they break into Twist and Shout.

November 22 - the second LP With the Beatles is released. Advance copies reach 300,000. It reaches #1, bumping Please Please Me. "She Loves You" reaches #1 for the second time.

December - fifth single "I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy" is released in the UK and hits #1, bumping "She Loves You". Right after Christmas, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is released in the US in a major publicity campaign to introduce the band to the US.

December 7 - The Beatles are shown in America on CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

December 17 - the first Beatles song is played on US airwaves. Carroll James of WWDC plays the record requested by listener Marsha Alpert, obtained by a stewerdess friend of his and his wife, Betty; not by his girlfriend as is often reported. Capitol Records considers court action, but instead moves up the release date of the single (thanks to Alan Rothschild for additional information with this entry).

December 24 - the beginning of the hugely successful, 16-date 'Christmas Show'.