1963 - Please please me

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"We do not use any original material - after all, can you imagine a British composed R&B number - it just wouldn't make it"
Mick Jagger, Jazz News

The Pop Year:

• Bob Dylan performs in a BBC radio play and also performs two songs - In true BBC style the tape is later wiped.
• Whiskey A-Go-Go opens on Sunset Strip.
• Beatles first recording session at Abbey Road.
• Patsy Cline killed in air crash.
• Andrew Loog Oldham signs The Rolling Stones - snapped up by Decca, anxious not to repeat their previous mistake, failing to sign The Beatles.
• First Monterey Folk Festival features Peter Paul and Mary,Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Dylan.
• Everley Brothers tour UK with Bo Diddly and The Rolling Stones.
• Thirteen year old 'Little Stevie Wonder' tops US chart with Fingertips.
• Cilla Black makes her TV debut.

Singles:

• Cliff Richard - The Next Time/Bachelor Boy; Summer Holiday
• The Shadows - Dance on; Foot tapper
• Frank Ifield - Lovesick Blues; The Warward Wind; Confessin'
• Tijuana Brass - Lonely Bull
• Jet Harris and Tony Meehan - Diamonds; Scarlett O'Hara
• Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt
• The Four Seasons - Big Girls Don't Cry; Walk Like a Man
• The Beatles - Please Please Me; From Me To You; She loves You; I want to Hold Your hand
• Bobby Vee - The Night has a Thousand Eyes
• Paul and Paula - Hey Paul
• Acker Bilk - A Taste of Honey
• Ned Miller - From a Jack to a King
• Billie Davis - Tell Him
• Gerry and the Pacemakers - How Do You Do It; I Like it; You'll Never Walk Alone
• Buddy Holly - Brown Eyed Handsome Man
• Cascades - Rhythm of the Falling Rain
• Little Eva - Let's Turkey Trot
• Roy Orbison - Falling; Blue Bayou
• Andy Williams - Can't Get Used To Losing You
• Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas - Do You Want To know a Secret; Bad To me
• Ray Charles - Take These Chains From My Heart
• Freddie and The Ddreamers - If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody; I'm Telling You Now; You Were Made For Me
• Frank Ifield - Confessin'
• Elvis Presley - Devil in Disguise
• Bo Diddly - Holly
• Jim Reeves - Welcome to My World
• Crystals - Da Do Ron Ron Ron; The He Kissed Me
• Leslie Gore - It's My Party
• The Searchers - Sweets for My Sweet; Sugar and Spice
• Brian Poole and the Tremeloes - Twist and Shout; Do You Love Me
• Johnny Kidd and the Pirates - I'll Never Get Over You
• Surfaris - Wipe Out
• Trini Lopez - If I Had a Hammer
• Rolling Stones - Come on; I Wanna Be Your Man
• Shirley Bassey - I Who Have Nothing
• The Fourmost - Hello Little Girl
• The Ronnettes - Be My Baby
• Peter Paul and Mary - Blowin' In The Wind
• Chuck Berry - Let It Rock

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Albums:

• The Beatles - Please Please Me; With The Beatles
• Chuck Berry - Chuck Berry
• Cliff Richard and The Shadows - Summer Holiday
• Freddie and the Dreamers - Freddie and the Dreamers
• Gerry and the Pacemakers - How Do You Like It
• Frank Ifield - I'll Remember You
• Roy Orbison - Lonely and Blue; Crying; In Dreams
• The Searchers - Meet the Searchers; Sugar and Spice
• The Shadows - Out of the Shadows
• Elvis Presley - Girls Girls Girls
• Del Shannon - Hats Off To Larry; Little town Flirt
• Billy Fury - Billy

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In the news:

• First Kidney Transplant
• Martin Luthor King marches to Washinton with 200,000 people to demand equlity with whites. Gives 'I have a dream' speech
• De Gaulle blocks Britain's entry to the Common Market
• Death of Hugh Gaitskill, Labour Leader. Harold Wilson elected new leader
• Spy Kim Philby defects to Russia
• War Minister Profumo resigns over Profumo affair
• 50,000 anti nuclear protestors march in London
• Viet kong shoot down five US helicoptors in the Mekong Delta
• Dr Beeching closes many branch lines in British Railway reforms
• First issue of underground magazine 'Oz' comes out in Australia
• Special Branch arrest 'spies for peace' (CND activists)
• Kennedy sends federal troops to race riots in Southern States
• Dr Timothy Leary sacked from Harvard For experimenting on students with LSD
• Black church sevice bombed in Birmingham, Alabama
• BBC governers Take TW3 off the air for being too controversial
• President Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvy Oswald - Oswald later Killed by Jack Ruby
• Quazars discovered

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T.V:

• Ready Steady Go!
• Dr Who
• Naked City
• World in Action
• Stars and Garters
• The Human Jungle
• Crane
• The Dick Emery Show
• Love Story (plays)
• Maupassant

Top Ten

1. Royal Variety Show
2. Coronation Street
3. Steptoe and Son
4. Dr Finlay's Casebook
5. Drama 63
6. Miss World
7. They've Sold a Million
8. Max Bygraves Show
9. Take Your Pick
10. Val Parnells Sunday Show

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Films:

• The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner
• Tom Jones
• This Sporting Life
• The Birds
• The Great Escape
• Dr Strangelove
• Billy Liar
• The Pink Panther
• Cleopatra

Books:

• A Singular Man - J. P. Donleavy
• The Bell jar - Sylvia Plath
• The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - John Le Carre
• Reality Sandwiches - Alan Ginsberg
• Silent Spring - Rachal Carson
• The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick

The American Way of Death - Jessica Mitford