In preparation for their impending Scottish tour, The Beatles flew back from Hamburg to London on 1 January 1963.
The group spent the night in London before flying to Scotland the following day.
1963 was, in many ways, The Beatles’ annus mirabilis. Although they didn’t know it at the time, by the end of the year their lives would be turned upside down. They would be famous all across the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and their singles and albums would have sold in their millions.
Page last updated: 2 February 2010
I like that comment about 1963 being a very good year for The Beatles and it wasn’t just a very good year, but also a very, very busy and eventful one as well:
They released a total of two albums (“Please Please Me” was their first and “With the Beatles” was their second), four singles (“Please Please Me”, “From Me to You”, “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”) and three EP’s (four counting the “My Bonnie” EP for Polydor Records, which had songs done in Hamburg while Pete Best was still their drummer and they were backing Tony Sheridan).
They played a total of 254 concerts – as in dates, not necessarily individual shows or sets – in a variety of locations all over England and even extending to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands in addition to their first concert tour of Sweden, their first tour outside the UK since the end of their final Hamburg residency.
Of course, they still had photo sessions, made appearances on British TV and recorded sessions for BBC Radio programs.
They participated in package tours with the legendary Roy Orbison, Gerry and The Pacemakers (whom Brian Epstein also managed) and Helen Shapiro.
They played a concert at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Her Majesty the Queen Mother.
John and his wife Cynthia had their only child, a son whom they named Julian and he became a musician just like his famous dad.
They left Liverpool permanently in the summer and moved to London full-time.
George made his first visit to America to visit his sister Louise.
John, Paul, George and Ringo met The Rolling Stones for the first time and maybe they somehow inspired The Stones to become touraholics themselves!!
Paul met Jane Asher for the first time.
Beatlemania exploded in the UK.