This Day in Beatle History

June 4

1967 (Jun 4) - Sgt Pepper Goes to #1 in the UK

The Beatles started a 23 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, the album widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, includes songs such as ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ and ‘A Day in the Life’.

1986 (Jun 4) - Beatlemania! Producers Forced to Pay Up

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that the primary purpose of the stage show “Beatlemania” was to commercially exploit the Beatles’ popularity and that the show and movie producers should pay $10 million to Apple Corps Ltd.

2003 (Jun 4) - Granddad Investigated for Pirate Radio Station

A grandfather who set up his own pirate radio station in Wakefield, Yorkshire, is under investigation by local broadcasting authorities. The man known as Ricky Rock had erected a 32-foot transmitter in his garden and had been playing hits by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Elvis Presley. Ricky said he set the station up because “talent-less boy bands and dance music” featured on local stations did not cater to the tastes of his generation.

2008 (Feb 20) - Beatles' Autographed Rolling Stones Album Auctioned

A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The ‘Black and Blue’ LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.

2014 (Jun 4) - John Lennon Artifacts Sold at Auction

Handwritten letters, notes, poems and sketches by John Lennon all exceeded pre-sale estimates at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York. The Fat Budgie, a nonsensical poem, sold for $143,000 (£85,000), having been valued at up to $35,000 (£21,000). A handwritten manuscript called I Sat Belonely went for $137,000 (£82,000), four times its estimate. The pieces, part of an 89 lot sale, came from Lennon’s books In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works.

June 5

1947 (Jun 5) - Tom Evans of Badfinger Born

English musician and songwriter Tom Evans, from Badfinger, who scored the 1970 UK No.4 and US No.7 single ‘Come And Get It’. In November 1969, the Iveys changed their name to Badfinger, and Paul McCartney gave the group a boost by offering them his song ‘Come and Get It’, which he produced for the band. With Pete Ham he wrote ‘Without You’ first released on their 1970 album No Dice. The song has been recorded by over 180 artists and versions released as singles by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey became international best-sellers. Evans committed suicide on 19th November 1983.