Video: 'The Beatles Leaving London For Paris Tour - ITN News - 14 January 1964'

(Sunday, January 12, 1964, late afternoon GMT) — The Beatles (minus Ringo Starr who was temporally grounded in Liverpool by fog) flew from London Airport to Le Bourget, Paris, late this afternoon for an 18-day season at the Paris Olympia, their first shows in France.

Starr would join the rest of the group the following day, in time for their warm-up show at the Cinema Cyrano in Versailles, Paris.

When John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George George Harrison arrived in Paris they were greeted by 60 fans and the French press.

More fans were waiting for them at the George V Hotel, where they stayed during their residency.

Video: 'The Beatles Arrive In Paris + Ringo Leaving London - ITN News - 15 January 1964' (Jan. 14, 1964, at 0:00-0:19)

That evening they were joined at the hotel by Bruno Coquatrix, the director of the Olympia Theatre, the venue where they were to perform for the next three weeks.

They also met a representative from Odeon, The Beatles’ record label in France.

Video: 'The Beatles - If I Fell (Home Demo - John Lennon - 1964)'

John and Paul shared a suite in the George V, because they had to write a number of songs during their stay: six for their forthcoming film, one for Billy J Kramer and another for Tommy Quickly. A piano was installed in the suite and they began work (note: John Lennon had recorded a series of demos of “If I Fell” in London sometime between Jan. 1-14, 1964).

George Harrison, meanwhile, went to Club Eve with Derek Taylor, the Daily Express journalist who was ghost-writing George’s column for the paper about the Paris trip.