IBC Studios, Portland Place, London
Producer: Jack Good
Engineer: Alan Florence
Tape operator: Peter Robinson
Brian Epstein had negotiated a one-hour television special starring The Beatles, to be made by London-based ITV company Rediffusion. To be titled Around The Beatles, the show was filmed on 28 April 1964, but rehearsals and recording began on this day.
The working title of the show was John, Paul, George And Ringo. Also to appear were PJ Proby, the Vernons Girls, Long John Baldry, Millie, The Jets, Cilla Black and Sounds Incorporated. In Proby’s band was Jimmy Page, then a full-time session guitarist.
The Rediffusion contract stipulated that The Beatles had to attend five days of rehearsals between 17 and 27 April. However, due to the group’s hectic schedule they had limited time to attend. The audio was recorded over two consecutive days, this and the next.
This day’s recording finished at 10pm. The staff then prepared the studio to record PJ Proby’s single Hold Me, which launched his career in the UK. Jack Good, the man behind Around The Beatles, produced the recording.
Also on this day...
- 2024: Paul McCartney and Wings’ One Hand Clapping to be released on 14 June
- 2018: New video for Ringo Starr’s Give More Love
- 2003: Paul McCartney live: Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London
- 1975: UK single release: Stand By Me by John Lennon
- 1969: Recording, mixing: Old Brown Shoe, I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
- 1966: Lennon and Harrison watch The Lovin’ Spoonful in London
- 1965: Mixing: Help!, The Night Before
- 1964: Filming: A Hard Day’s Night
- 1963: Paul McCartney meets Jane Asher
- 1962: The Beatles live: Star-Club, Hamburg
- 1961: The Beatles live: Top Ten Club, Hamburg
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
P.J.Proby….what a singer!! he absolutely stole the show “Around The Beatles” back in mid 1964. He’s still around even now singing wonderfully well. So many groups & singers get classified as legends….most of them ain’t! PROBY IS!!!
Very cool!
Also for this show Jimmy Page on rhythm guitar, “Big Jim” Sullivan on lead guitar, and Bobby Graham on drums – this combination of studio musicians played on a large portion of group singles from the early 1960s. John Baldwin -aka John Paul Jones- sometimes also played with them on some of the singles. He was in the Tony Meeham Group at the time when he put out “Baja / A Foggy Day In Vietnam” in April 1964 on Pye Records, his first solo single, in which he plays a six-string bass.