60 years Ago: I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND RELEASED IN U.K.
The week of November 25, 1963, started with the Beatles at Granada TV Centre in Manchester, where they lip-synced both sides of their soon-to-be-released single, I Want To Hold Your Hand and This Boy, for the November 27th broadcast of Late Scene Extra. They also did a brief interview.
On Tuesday, the Beatles resumed their U.K. tour with two shows at the Regal Cinema in Cambridge. Prior to the concert, they did a live interview for the BBC television program East At Six Ten. The tour continued with a Wednesday night concert at the Rialto Theatre in York and a Thursday evening show at the ABC Cinema in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
On Friday, November 29, EMI released the Beatles fifth single, I Want To Hold Your Hand c/w This Boy. The record received rave reviews and quickly shot to the top of all of the national U.K. charts. That evening, the group played two shows at the ABC Cinema in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. The Beatles rounded out the weekend with a Saturday night concert at the Empire Theatre in Sunderland and a Sunday show at De Montfort Hall in Leicester.
This week’s trivia questions pertain to the Beatles fifth U.K. single.
1. The Beatles fifth U.K. single was the group’s first not to feature what musical instrument on either side?
2. Approximately how many copies of I Want To Hold Your Hand were sold in the U.K. prior to the single’s release?
3. What song did I Want To Hold Your Hand replace at the top of the Record Retailer chart?
1. Neither side of the Beatles fifth single featured harmonica, which had been present on Love Me Do, Please Please Me, From Me To You (and its B-side Thank You Girl), and I’ll Get You (the B-side of She Loves You).
2. I Want To Hold Your Hand had advance orders of approximately one million copies before it went on sale, quickly earning the Beatles both silver disc and gold disc awards for the single.
3. I Want To Hold Your Hand replaced She Loves You as the number one record on the Record Retailer chart.