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1876--Bananas become popular in the US, when introduced this day at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

1917--Ten million US men begin registering for the draft in World War I.

1933--The United States goes off the gold standard.

1945--The USA, UK, USSR, and France declare supreme authority over Germany, dividing it into four occupation zones.

1947--Tom Evans, one of the not-so-tragic members of Badfinger, is born in Liverpool, England.

1955--John Lennon's uncle, George Smith, dies suddenly. John had been living with and was being raised by his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, and now his Aunt Mimi is left to take care of John on her own. [Note: several sources report 1953 as the year in which this occurred.]

1956--Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-A-Lula is released. It will eventually sell over a million copies.

1959--Bob Zimmerman graduates from Hibbing High School in Hibbing, Minnesota. Later, at the University of Michigan, he performs in a campus coffee house under the name Bob Dylan.

1961--The Beatles perform at the Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, West Germany.

1963--The Beatles, touring with Roy Orbison, perform at the Odeon Cinema, Leeds, Yorkshire.

1963--British War Minister, John Profumo, resigns from Parliament after admitting he had lied to the House of Commons about his affair with call girl, Christine Keeler.

1964--During The Beatles' arrival in Amsterdam, fans throw themselves into a channel trying to get near them.

1964--The Beatles record a performance for Dutch television in Hillegom, The Netherlands. They answer questions from fans in the studio audience, aided by translator Berend Boudewijn. Then The Beatles put on lip-sync performances of their songs Twist and Shout, All My Loving, Roll Over Beethoven, Long Tall Sally, She Loves You, and Can't Buy Me Love. Since The Beatles' microphones were left open, they had the option of singing live vocals on top of the pre-recorded tracks. In what must have been a confusing and perhaps somewhat humorous scene, the audience of dancers slowly began to surround The Beatles as they perform, until The Beatles are completely engulfed by gyrating fans. Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, and Derek Taylor rush out to clear the area around The Beatles, but they are unsuccessful. Neil then directes The Beatles to leave the stage, which they did, while their pre-recorded music is still playing. Jimmy Nicol, however, continues on, drumming alone on the stage, perhaps to show that he is taking his job as The Beatles' temporary drummer very seriously indeed. The performance, along with clips of The Beatles touring Amsterdam, is broadcast on June 8, with the title "The Beatles in Nederland."

1964--Single UK release: Like Dreamers Do, by The Applejacks. And KFWB radio in Los Angeles releases the single, KFWB Beatles / You Can't Do That, featuring interviews with The Beatles.

1964--David Bowie releases one of his first singles, Liza Jane. However, he does it under his real name and with one of his first bands, as David Jones and the King Bees.

1966--On US television, "The Ed Sullivan Show" broadcasts color promo films for both songs on The Beatles' latest single, Paperback Writer and Rain.

1967--The Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band reaches #1 in the UK charts. It will hold the #1 position for 27 weeks.

1968--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Three, EMI Studios, London). Recording begins on Ringo Starr's song, Don't Pass Me By, which he had partially written as early as 1963. Three takes of the basic track, then overdubs are added. Although Ringo had referred to this song as Don't Pass Me By during interviews back in the Beatles' early days, its working title for this session is "Ringo's Tune (Untitled)." It will later be called "This Is Some Friendly" and, still later, be renamed Don't Pass Me By.

1968--Senator Robert Kennedy is shot and killed in Los Angeles. David Crosby writes Long Time Gone, which is recorded by Crosby, Stills and Nash. A day later, The Rolling Stones record, Sympathy for the Devil, which includes the lyrics, "...who killed the Kennedys..."

1972--UNICEF awards its "Child Is the Father of the Man" award to George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for their efforts to aid the starving people of Bangladesh.

1977--The first personal computer, the Apple II, goes on sale.

1989--UK re-release of The Beatles’ singles on three-inch CDs: All You Need Is Love / Baby You're a Rich Man and Hello Goodbye / I Am the Walrus (EMI).

1993--Rock-a-billy pioneer and country music legend, Conway Twitty, dies of an abdominal aneurysm at the age of 59, collapsing in his tour bus after a show in Branson, Missouri. He scored 39 No. 1 Billboard country hits (including four duets with Loretta Lynn), among them Hello Darlin' and You've Never Been This Far Before. His earlier rock and roll hits included It’s Only Make Believe and Lonely Blue Boy.

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