2012 is a very special year for Liverpool as the city celebrates 50 years of The Beatles with a spectacular, year-long programme of events.
On 18 August 1962 Ringo Starr made his first appearance as the Beatles official drummer at Hulme Hall in the village of Port Sunlight, Wirral. The four members of the band had a two hour rehearsal before taking to the stage as the headline act in the local Horticultural Society’s 17th annual dance. On that night the Fab Four were born...the rest is history.
The Beatles - John, Paul, George and Ringo – then took the charts by storm in 1962 with their first official release, Love Me Do, quickly followed by Please Please Me and From Me to You.
Beatlemania soon swept across the globe as the Fab Four recorded a staggering 12 studio albums, 13 EPs and 22 singles from 1962 to 1970. It is estimated they have sold over one billion records worldwide.
On 22 August 1962, Manchester-based Granada Television sent a film crew to The Cavern to film a few minutes of The Beatles' lunch time stage performance with the potential to be used on a local TV program, Know The North. Dating back to the early 1970s. However, due to the poor filming/recording conditions in The Cavern, neither the film or recording was seen as usable and was subsequently shelved with no current plan for use. Eventually, once The Beatles' popularity grew, the August performance of "Some Other Guy" was shown on 6 November 1963 on the Granada program, Scene At 6:30.
When The Beatles first performed at the Cavern on 9 February, 1961, it was so low key it wasn't even advertised. A year and a half, and 292 performances, later, the group was set for stardom and the Cavern would become one of the world's most famous clubs. While both Lennon and McCartney had already played the club as The Quarrymen, the un-advertised lunchtime session was George Harrison's first appearance at the Cavern.
The club's lunchtime sessions were popular with young city centre office workers and many would take sandwiches to eat while watching the groups.
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