Beatles. - Rock diary The Beatles

John Lennon(guitar, piano, vocals);Paul McCartney(bass, piano, vocals);George Harrison(guitar, vocals);Ringo Starr(drums, vocals)

SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1957

After auditioning for Carroll Levis TV Star Search Show at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, Lancashire last month, the Quarrymen skiffle group are now playing at the St. Peters Parish Church Garden Fte in Woolton, Liverpool when Ivan Vaughan - who had been in the lineup when they were previously known as the Black Jacks - introduces the groups lead singer, 16-year-old John Lennon (b. John Winston Lennon, October 9, 1940, Woolton, Liverpool), to 15-year old Paul McCartney (b. James Paul McCartney, June 18, 1942, Liverpool) at the end of the bands set. McCartney impresses Lennon with an impromptu rendition of Eddie Cochrans Twenty Flight Rock and his ability to tune a guitar, not to mention his lyrical knowledge of American rock n roll hits of the day. Inspired by the current skiffle music craze in England which is being led by Lonnie Donegan, Lennon formed the Quarrymen last year with school chum Pete Shotton (b. Peter Shotton, August 4, 1941, Liverpool) - who has learnt to play the essential skiffle instrument, the washboard, guitarist Eric Griffiths (b. Eric Ronald Griffiths, October 31, 1940) and drummer Colin Hanton (b. Colin Leo Hanton, December 12, 1938, Liverpool). This evening Lennon and Shotton casually discuss inviting McCartney to join the band, a suggestion Shotton will put to McCartney when they bump into each other in Woolton in two weeks time.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1957

The Quarrymen perform at jazz venue the Cavern club in Liverpool for the first time, but without McCartney, who is at a scout camp in Hathersage, Derbyshire. Following cover versions of Hound Dog and Blue Suede Shoes, owner Alan Sytner dispatches the order: Cut out the bloody rock! (A week earlier, another Liverpool-based musician, 17-year-old drummer Richard Starkey made his performing debut with the Eddie Clayton Skiffle group.)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1957

Following intermittent autumn rehearsals with the group during which he taught them how to play Elvis Presleys All Shook Up and the Everly Brothers Bye Bye Love, McCartney makes his debut with the group at the New Clubmoor Hall Conservative club in Norris Green, Liverpool.

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1958

The Quarrymen - with Lennon and McCartney both playing guitar - perform at the Morgue Skiffle Cellar, Oakhill Park, Broadgreen in Liverpool. (This is one of several dates and locations at which 15-year-old guitarist George Harrison may have first met Lennon and the rest of the Quarrymen. Harrison will later recall their first meeting on February 6th at another gig at the Wilson Hall in Garston, Liverpool; Quarrymen drummer Colin Hanton will claim it was today; Shotton will say they all met at Georges parents house while Harrisons mum will remember her son meeting the group at a local chip shop.) Following persistent lobbying by McCartney, Harrison (b. George Harrison, February 25, 1943, Wavertree, Liverpool) will subsequently pass an audition for Lennon (playing the Bill Justis hit Raunchy) and become lead guitarist for the Quarrymen by months end. (Harrison is a school friend of McCartney at Liverpool Institute High - though in the year below. Lennon is currently studying art at the Liverpool College of Art.)

SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1958

The Quarrymen, comprising Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, John Lowe (who loses the acetate only to rediscover it in 1981) on piano and Colin Hanton on drums, pay 11s and 3d to record a demo of Buddy Hollys Thatll Be The Day, backed with a Harrison/McCartney composition In Spite Of All The Danger at the Phillips Sound Recording Service in Kensington, Liverpool. (This date will be disputed by members of the group, who recall it as being more likely to have been in October or November, despite the entry appearing in Percy Phillips log book on the above date. When a blue plaque is unveiled at the house at number 38 Kensington in August 2005, it will list the date as being July 14, 1958.)

TUESDAY, JULY 15, 1958

Lennons mother, Julia, dies in a road accident in Liverpool, while crossing the road to catch a bus after leaving her sister Mimis house in Menlove Avenue. The driver of the car is Eric Clague, an off-duty policeman.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1958

Harrison, Lennon and McCartney perform as the Quarrymen at Harrisons brother Harry and his bride Irene McCanns wedding reception at the family house at 25, Upton Green in Speke, Liverpool.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1959

On the day of the opening of the Casbah Coffee Club, run by Mona Best and located in the basement of her house at 8 Haymans Green in West Derby, Liverpool, Les Stewart and Ken Brown of the scheduled band the Les Stewart Quartet argue, with Stewart walking out. Brown asks Harrison if he knows anyone who can help out, and he brings in Lennon and McCartney. This performance leads to a regular Saturday-night spot at the Casbah (for which the group, without a drummer, is paid 15 shillings per gig) until October 10th, when Brown goes his own way.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1959

Having passed the initial audition on October 18th at Liverpools Empire Theatre, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, now calling themselves Johnny & the Moondogs, participate in the final round of the local finals of Carroll Levis TV Star Search at the Hippodrome Theatre in Ardwick, Lancashire.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1960

Lennon and McCartney, staying with the latters cousin Bett Robbins and her husband Mike at their pub, The Fox And Hounds in Caversham, Berkshire, perform in the pub in exchange for working behind the bar during the week. Calling themselves The Nerk Twins, they play with acoustic guitars, sans microphones, sitting on bar stools. (They will perform again tomorrow lunchtime.) By months end, Lennons art-school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe (b. Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe, June 23, 1940, Edinburgh, Scotland) joins them on bass having recently lease-bought (at Lennon and McCartneys suggestion) a Hfner President 500/5 model bass guitar from the local Frank Hessey Music Shop.

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1960 TO SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1960

The quartet, now comprising Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe, having failed an audition for impresario Larry Parnes to become Billy Furys backing band, performs a seven-date tour of Scotland, as the Silver Beetles (after a brief spell as the Beatals), opening at the Town Hall in Alloa, Clackmanshire and ending at the Rescue Hall in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. They back Johnny Gentle, another singer from the Parnes talent stable. (Tommy Moore has been temporarily added to the line-up on drums. For the tour, McCartney uses the pseudonym Paul Ramon, Sutcliffe calls himself Stuart da Stal and Harrison adopts the forename Carl.)

MONDAY, MAY 30, 1960

The band performs the first of 18 local gigs over the next two months around the Liverpool/Wirral/Wallasley area at the Jacaranda Coffer Bar in Liverpool. Their final date will be on July 30th at the Grosvenor Ballroom in Liverpool, a venue at which they play regularly over the summer.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1960

After being seen by the group drumming for the Blackjacks at the Casbah Club last Saturday, Pete Best (b. Randolph Peter Best, November 24, 1941, Madras, India), the son of Casbah owner Mona Best, passes an audition at the Blue Angel club, and joins the group as its drummer in time for its first visit to Germany.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1960 TO MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1960

Having traveled to Hamburg, West Germany in a green van owned by their current manager, Allan Williams, and playing for the first time as the Beatles, the quintet undertakes a 48-day residency at the Indra Club on Grosse Freheit, playing four-and-a-half hours every night, and six hours at the weekend. (Promoter Bruno Koschmider, heeding complaints of noise levels, will close the Indra down as a music venue and will move the Beatles into his other club, the Kaiserkeller, on October 4th, where they will play for a further 58 nights, making 106 appearances in total, playing their last gig on November 30th.)