60 years Ago: BEATLEMANIA IS BORN

The Beatles began the week of October 7, 1963 with a Monday night concert at Caird Hall in Dundee, Scotland. By this time, Brian had eased up at bit, giving the boys some time off in between concerts, radio and television appearances and recording sessions.

After traveling back from Scotland on Tuesday, the group enjoyed an evening off. On Wednesday, they headed to London to perform She Loves You before a live audience at the BBC’s Paris Studio as part of a taping for The Ken Dodd Show, a 30-minute radio program featuring the popular Liverpool comedian. The show with the Beatles was broadcast on the afternoon on November 3.

After another day off, the group played a Friday night show at the Ballroom in Trentham, Staffordshire.

On Sunday, October 13, 1963, the Beatles were featured on the top-rated entertainment program on British television.

The show was broadcast live throughout the U.K. on Sunday evenings from a London theatre. The hour-long show was the British equivalent of The Ed Sullivan Show in America.

The group’s performance of From Me To You, I’ll Get You, She Loves You and Twist And Shout was seen by 15 million viewers, giving the Beatles tremendous national exposure to an audience of both youngsters and adults. But as impressive as the band was on stage, it was the bedlam caused by the group both inside and outside the theater that caught the attention of the British press, who quickly elevated the Beatles from a successful entertainment act to a national news phenomenon. One paper heralded the coming of “Beatle Fever!,” while another described the mass hysteria as “Beatlemania!” The latter term became part of the British vocabulary and would soon be heard throughout the world.

Today’s questions cover the Beatles October 13, 1963 television appearance.

  1. What was the name of the Sunday night show in which the Beatles made their debut on October 13, 1963?
  2. What British newspaper coined the phrase Beatlemania?

1.      The Beatles October 13, 1963 appearance on Val Parnell’s Sunday Night At The London Palladium and the ensuing press coverage was the official launch of Beatlemania in the U.K. Its impact was similar to that of the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in America.

2.      The term “Beatlemania” was coined by the Daily Mirror.

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