The Pre-Beatles Era

1940

July 7 - Ringo Starr is born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England

October 9 - John Winston Lennon is born in Liverpool, England

1942

June 18 - James Paul McCartney is born in Liverpool, England

1943

February 24 - George Harrison is born in Liverpool, England

1957

July 6 - After seeing the Quarry Men at a fete at the Woolton Parish Church, Paul meets John for the first time and, after impressing John with his ability to tune a guitar, is asked into the band.

1958

February - George joins the Quarrymen

1959

November - the Quarrymen break up

1960

January - John, Paul, and George reform The Quarry Men with drummer Pete Best and bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, a friend of John's from art school. Some names used for the new band include "Long John and the Silver Beatles" and "The Silver Beatles". "Beatles" comes from a number of sources: it was the name of the motorcycle gang in the film "The Wild One", and the spelling comes from a play on words by John and Stuart - the 'a' makes it 'beat' as in the type of music they played, and "Beatles" is a variation of the "Crickets", which was Buddy Holly's band and an influence musically for the Beatles. Later in an attempt to make things more interesting, John claims he had a dream when he was younger of a man on a flaming pie who said, "You are 'Beatles' with an 'a'".

August 18 - The Beatles perform their first show in Germany at the Indra Club in Hamburg.

1961

May - The group performs their first recording session with singer Tony Sheridan, including two tracks on their own ("Ain't She Sweet" and "Cry For A Shadow"), at a school in Germany. The songs "My Bonnie" and "Why" are later released as singles.

December - Brian Epstein, a record store clerk, becomes the Beatles' manager.