History offers
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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.
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS TOOK PLACE ON MAY 26
1788--In England, Mary Clark gives birth to a baby without a brain.
1937--San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opens.
1960--The Silver Beetles, on the Johnny Gentle tour, perform at Town Hall in Forres, Morayshire. The following morning, short on money, they slip out of their hotel without paying the bill.
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, touring with Roy Orbison, perform in home territory, at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. It is The Beatles' first Liverpool appearance in over six weeks.
1964--John and Cynthia Lennon and George Harrison and Pattie Boyd return to London from a month-long holiday in Tahiti.
1965--The Beatles tape their final BBC radio program, "The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride." The BBC wanted the show to be another in the "From Us to You" series, but The Beatles feel that the old title no longer represents where they are musically, so they come up with an (somewhat unimaginative) alternate title. The songs: Ticket to Ride, Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby, I'm a Loser, The Night Before, Honey Don’t, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, and She's a Woman. Two of these performances, Ticket to Ride and Dizzy Miss Lizzie, are included on the 1994 Apple release The Beatles Live at the BBC (Disc 2, Tracks 22-23). Despite promises to the contrary, The Beatles will not record any additional radio shows.
1966--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Three, EMI Studios, London). Recording Yellow Submarine. Taping of the basic track, adding Ringo Starr's lead vocal, and also adding the backing vocals of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. Recovering from a case of food poisoning, George Martin is still missing in action, so engineer, Geoff Emerick, oversees the session.
1967--UK release of The Beatles’ LP, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone). The Beatles' eighth album. Songs: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help from My Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, She's Leaving Home, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Within You Without You, When I'm Sixty-Four, Lovely Rita, Good Morning Good Morning, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), and A Day in the Life. Also includes the 15 KC tone and the "Inner Groove," both of which were excluded on the US album. The album was rush-released on May 26, but the official release date of June 1 has been traditionally observed. Highest chart position: #1.
1969--US release of John Lennon / Yoko Ono LP, Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with The Lions (Zapple). Tracks: Cambridge 1969, No Bed For Beatle John, Baby's Heartbeat, Two Minutes of Silence, and Radio Play. 8 weeks on Billboard chart; highest position #174.
1969--US release of the George Harrison LP, Electronic Sound (Zapple). Tracks: Under the Mersey Wall and No Time or Space. 2 weeks on Billboard chart; highest position #191.
1969--John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their second Bed-In for Peace at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel (Suite 1742). John had wanted to stage the Bed-In in the US, but he was denied a visa due to his drug conviction. He still, however, selected a location close enough to America to guarantee media coverage inside the US, wanting to add his peace sentiments to the strong anti-Vietnam War movement. The entire proceedings are filmed and recorded, and among the surviving tapes are impromptu Lennon renditions of songs like Because and Get It Together. Interviews held during the Bed-In are filmed for an unreleased movie, "The Way It Is," portions of which are included in 1988's "John Lennon: Imagine" and 1990's home video release "John & Yoko: The Bed-In." The song Give Peace a Chance will also be recorded during the Bed-In. John invites Canada's Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, to plant acorns for peace. Trudeau's response? "I don't know about his acorns, but I'd like to see him if he's around. He's a good poet." Scores of American journalists and photographers beseige the hotel for a chance to meet the Lennons, who also play host to visiting musicians, writers, and counter-culture personalities. The nadir of the Bed-In is reached when American cartoonist, Al Capp, meets the Lennons: he assaults the naivete of their non-violence campaign, claiming that Bed-Ins wouldn’t have prevented the Nazi holocaust. “If I were a Jewish girl in Hitler’s day,” replies Yoko, “I would approach him and become his girlfriend. After ten days in bed, he would come to my way of thinking.” “That’s stark raving madness,” Capp responds. Capp goes on to make various direct insults toward John and Yoko, and it is clear that John is using every ounce of strength that he has not to lash back at him. The rest of the footage is more benign, serving as excellent documentation of this historical event. CLICK HERE TO SEE A SPECIAL SECTION FEATURING SEVERAL PHOTO ALBUMS ABOUT JOHN AND YOKO'S BED-INS.
1970--George Harrison begins recording his All Things Must Pass album. Ringo Starr plays drums on the album.
1973--The Beatles compilation LP, The Beatles 1967-1970 reaches #1 in the US charts.
1978--The first legal gambling casino opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1986--Paul McCartney is inducted by the "Guinness Book of Records" as the most successful musician of all time.
1987--US re-release of the John Lennon album, Shaved Fish on CD (Capitol). Due to problems with sound quality, this release will be withdrawn. The album will be re-issued on CD on May 17, 1988.
1987--UK re-release of three John Lennon albums on CD: Rock 'n' Roll, Imagine, and Shaved Fish (EMI). Due to poor sound quality, Shaved Fish is recalled, and it will be reissued on May 17, 1988.
1994--Michael Jackson weds Elvis' daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
1999--It is revealed that John Lennon is to be honored when the Blue Plaque scheme, marking buildings with links to famous people, moves to Liverpool. John’s boyhood home, at 251 Menlove Avenue, will display a plaque. Besides the former Beatle, a total of 14 other people, including poets, politicians and philanthropists, will be among the notables selected by the English Heritage Society in its first foray outside of London.
History offers
1788--In England, Mary Clark gives birth to a baby without a brain.
1965--The Beatles tape their final BBC radio program, "The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride." The BBC wanted the show to be another in the "From Us to You" series, but The Beatles feel that the old title no longer represents where they are musically, so they come up with an (somewhat unimaginative) alternate title. The songs: Ticket to Ride, Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby, I'm a Loser, The Night Before, Honey Don’t, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, and She's a Woman. Two of these performances, Ticket to Ride and Dizzy Miss Lizzie, are included on the 1994 Apple release The Beatles Live at the BBC (Disc 2, Tracks 22-23). Despite promises to the contrary, The Beatles will not record any additional radio shows.
1967--UK release of The Beatles’ LP, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone). The Beatles' eighth album. Songs: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help from My Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, She's Leaving Home, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Within You Without You, When I'm Sixty-Four, Lovely Rita, Good Morning Good Morning, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), and A Day in the Life. Also includes the 15 KC tone and the "Inner Groove," both of which were excluded on the US album. The album was rush-released on May 26, but the official release date of June 1 has been traditionally observed. Highest chart position: #1.
1969--John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their second Bed-In for Peace at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel (Suite 1742). John had wanted to stage the Bed-In in the US, but he was denied a visa due to his drug conviction. He still, however, selected a location close enough to America to guarantee media coverage inside the US, wanting to add his peace sentiments to the strong anti-Vietnam War movement. The entire proceedings are filmed and recorded, and among the surviving tapes are impromptu Lennon renditions of songs like Because and Get It Together. Interviews held during the Bed-In are filmed for an unreleased movie, "The Way It Is," portions of which are included in 1988's "John Lennon: Imagine" and 1990's home video release "John & Yoko: The Bed-In." The song Give Peace a Chance will also be recorded during the Bed-In. John invites Canada's Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, to plant acorns for peace. Trudeau's response? "I don't know about his acorns, but I'd like to see him if he's around. He's a good poet." Scores of American journalists and photographers beseige the hotel for a chance to meet the Lennons, who also play host to visiting musicians, writers, and counter-culture personalities. The nadir of the Bed-In is reached when American cartoonist, Al Capp, meets the Lennons: he assaults the naivete of their non-violence campaign, claiming that Bed-Ins wouldn’t have prevented the Nazi holocaust. “If I were a Jewish girl in Hitler’s day,” replies Yoko, “I would approach him and become his girlfriend. After ten days in bed, he would come to my way of thinking.” “That’s stark raving madness,” Capp responds. Capp goes on to make various direct insults toward John and Yoko, and it is clear that John is using every ounce of strength that he has not to lash back at him. The rest of the footage is more benign, serving as excellent documentation of this historical event. 
1987--UK re-release of three John Lennon albums on CD: Rock 'n' Roll, Imagine, and Shaved Fish (EMI). Due to poor sound quality, Shaved Fish is recalled, and it will be reissued on May 17, 1988.
1994--Michael Jackson weds Elvis' daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
