Pick a Day

Flying back to England after participating in The Beach Boys' aborted Smile sessions, Paul McCartney comes up with the idea for The Beatles' film and album Magical Mystery Tour.

The Beatles finish recording "Within You Without You," a George Harrison song where he plays sitar and is accompanied by various Indian musicians. He has the engineers add some laughter to the end of the track from a sound effects reel.

The Beatles release their landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the UK.More

Because of the line, "I'd love to turn you on," the BBC bans The Beatles song "A Day In The Life," claiming it may promote drug use.

At Olympic Sound Studios in London, The Beatles start working on "All You Need Is Love," written specifically for a global satellite broadcast. The simple, repetitive chorus makes it a great fit for the international audience.

In response to their friend John Hopkins being sentenced to nine months in jail for marijuana possession, The Beatles take out full-page ad in The Times of London calling for legalization of the drug. "The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice," it reads.

In America, The Beatles release "All You Need Is Love," John Lennon's maxim. It becomes their 14th #1 hit in that country.

The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein dies of an accidental overdose (Carbitral mixed with alcohol) in London, England, at age 32.

The Beatles follow their favorite new lecturer, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to University College in Bangor, North Wales, along with Mick Jagger and his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull. After his lecture the group holds a press conference to announce that they've become his disciples in the "Spiritual Regeneration Movement" and officially renounced the use of all drugs.

The Beatles record "Your Mother Should Know" at Chappell Recording Studios in London. It's their last session before the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, who passes away four days later.

The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" hits #1, where it stays for one week.

John Lennon flips on the radio while working on "I Am The Walrus" and hears a BBC broadcast of the Shakespeare play King Lear, which he decides to mix into the song.

The Beatles film the dance scene to their song "Your Mother Should Know" for their film Magical Mystery Tour. Paul McCartney stokes the rumors that he is dead by wearing a black carnation while the other guys wear red.

The Beatles appear (as an abstract drawing) on the cover of Time magazine.

The Beatles journey to the Raymond Revue bar in London to film the notorious "striptease" scene in Magical Mystery Tour. Accompanying stripper Jan Carson is The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, playing a song called "Death Cab For Cutie."

In Hampshire, England, The Beatles begin filming Magical Mystery Tour, their third movie.

The Beatles start recording "I Am The Walrus" for their Magical Mystery Tour album. Sound effects and sundry overdubs, including a bit from a BBC radio broadcast, are added later.

The Beatles meet up at Paul McCartney's house in London to decide what to do following the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. They decide to be their own managers, and McCartney takes the lead on most business decisions. With hefty responsibilities outside of music, things get tense and the group breaks up two years later.

The Richard Lester movie How I Won The War, an antiwar satire featuring John Lennon in the role of Pvt. Gripweed, opens at London's Premiere Theatre, with all four Beatles attending.

The Beatles attend a small, quiet memorial service for their manager Brian Epstein, held at the New London Synagogue in St. John's Wood (near the Abbey Road Studios).

After 15 weeks at #1, The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is knocked out of the top spot by Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe.

Promoter Sid Bernstein, who had promoted The Beatles at their first two Shea Stadium concerts, offers one million dollars to the group, who is retired from the road, to perform a third concert there. They refuse.

George Harrison and John Lennon appear on David Frost's TV show, where they take the "pro" side in a debate over Transcendental Meditation. On the panel is the author Juan Mascaro, who later sends Harrison a book containing a translation of Chapter 47 of Tao Te Ching, which he uses as the lyric for the song "The Inner Light."

In America, The Beatles release Magical Mystery Tour, the soundtrack to their upcoming film.

The Beatles can't appear in person on the Ed Sullivan Show, but are there in celluloid when their promotional film (an early music video) for "Hello Goodbye" runs on the program.

Obsessive fans looking for "Paul Is Dead" clues on album covers and in songs push two previous Beatles albums, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour, back onto the Billboard albums chart.

The Beatles film three separate videos for their new single, "Hello Goodbye," at London's Saville Theatre. The three are eventually edited together to form one video, but the BBC, which has just given in to a Musician's Union ban on lip-syncing, refuses to air the clip.

The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye" becomes their 15th #1 single in the US.

The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film debuts on BBC-TV.

The Beatles' John Lennon and George Harrison throw a party in London for the area secretaries of their official Fan Club. The film Magical Mystery Tour is screened here for the first time.