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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.

1643--Louis XIV became King of France at age four upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. He reigned 72 years as the "Sun King."

1787--Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up the US Constitution.

1804--Explorers Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis, Missouri, for the Pacific Coast.

1878--Vaseline petroleum jelly goes on sale for the first time.

1927--Ain't She Sweet hits #1 on the pop singles chart by Ben Bernie. Almost 40 years later, The Beatles will have a hit with the song, as sung by John Lennon.

1936--Bobby Darin is born Walden Waldo Cassotto, in Bronx, New York. He started out in rock and roll with the hit, Splish Splash, and later became a nightclub singer with the song, Mack the Knife.

1943--Dereck "Lek" Leckenby is born in Leeds, England. He was the guitarist for the British Invasion group, Herman's Hermits, who had hits such as, There's a Kind of Hush and Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter.

1943--Jack Bruce is born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was bassist for the rock group, Cream.

1944--Filmmaker, George Lucas, is born in Modesto, California.

1956--Buddy Holly's optometrist has him try contact lenses, but Holly decides he doesn't like them and sticks with his famous black-rimmed glasses.

1960--The USSR launches the first unmanned space capsule.

1960--The Silver Beats (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Tommy Moore) perform at Lathom Hall, Seaforth, Liverpool. They play a few songs during the "interval" to audition for promoter Brian Kelly. The advertised groups appearing are Cliff Roberts and the Rockers, The Deltones, and Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes. This is the only occasion on which the group uses the name "Silver Beats," quickly changing it back to "Silver Beetles."

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

1962--The Beatles perform at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany.

1963--The Beatles perform at the Rink Ballroom, Sunderland, Durham.

1968--John Lennon and Paul McCartney appear on the US television program "The Tonight Show." The taped appearance is recorded and broadcast on the same day, so the two Beatles have the opportunity to watch themselves on television. The regular host, Johnny Carson, is absent, and baseball player, Joe Garagiola, is sitting in for him. Garagiola doesn't seem to know how to approach the two Beatles, and so it turns out to be a rather disappointing appearance. Garagiola even asks John and Paul which one of them is Ringo. Tallulah Bankhead, who preceeds John and Paul on the show, seems put out by these impertinent young men upstaging her. John Lennon would later say that this appearance was one of the most embarrassing of his career. Earlier in the day, John and Paul had recorded a lengthy television interview with Mitchell Krause for broadcast on the local educational channel. Due to viewer demand, the May 15 broadcast was repeated, probably on May 24.

1969--Abortion and contraception are legalized in Canada.

1969--The last Chevrolet Corvair is built.

1973--Skylab, the first Space Station, is launched.

1973--In Houston, Texas, Yoko Ono is awarded permanent custody of her daughter, Kyoko, but the child still cannot be found.

1976--Keith Relf, rock vocalist of The Yardbirds, is electrocuted while tuning his guitar, and dies at age 33.

1978--William Powell Lear, inventor of the Lear Jet, dies in Reno, Nevada.

1982--Hugh Beaumont, the actor who portrayed Ward Cleaver on the TV series, “Leave it to Beaver,” dies at age 73.

1995--The Dalai Lama proclaims six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima the 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet's second-most senior spiritual leader.

1998--Frank Sinatra dies from heart and kidney disease at age 82.

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