Audio: 'The Beatles - "With The Beatles" (2009 Stereo Remastered) [Full Album]'
(Thursday, August 22, 1963) — The cover for With the Beatles, The Beatles’ second album, was shot today by Robert Freeman in the Palace Court Hotel, Bournemouth, England. By coincidence, The Beatles would hold their final photo session as a group exactly six years from this date.
Video: 'Vietnam War Documentary | 02 Dien Bien Phu | How America Lost' (Aug. 22, 1963, at 44:24)
(Thursday, August 22, 1963, evening; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge flew into strife-torn Saigon tonight on hurry-up orders from the U.S. government which has sharply denounced yesterday’s government crackdown on Buddhists in South Vietnam.
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 2' (Aug. 21, 1963, at 39:23)
(Wednesday, August 21, 1963, shortly after midnight local time; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces, on orders of President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, arrested thousands of monks and nuns today and vandalized Buddhist pagodas across South Vietnam in what became known as the Xa Loi Pagoda raids.
Video: 'The Beatles - It Won't Be Long'
(Monday, August 19, 1963) — The Beatles were filmed today at Askers Road House Hotel in Bridport, England, portions of which were later sprinkled through the “It Won’t Be Long” montage of home movies in The Beatles Anthology documentary TV series.
Video: 'Ready Steady Go! - Volume 1'
(Friday, August 9, 1963) — Ready Steady Go!, one of the UK’s first rock/pop music television programs, debuted today on ITV. It would eventually feature artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Jimi Hendrix.
Video: 'Very rare: 1963 Beatles home movie - Jersey, Channel Islands' (Aug. 8, 1963, at :20-1:13; the rest was shot Aug. 6-10, 1963)
(Thursday, August 8, 1963) — The Beatles were filmed today at Jersey Airport, boarding their chartered flight for Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
Video: 'August 5, 1963 - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed in Moscow, Russia'
(Monday, August 5, 1963; during the Cold War) — In Moscow, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union today signed the first nuclear test ban treaty. The ceremony took place at the Kremlin with U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, British Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home, and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko signing on behalf of their respective natiions.
(Saturday, August 3, 1963) — The Beatles debuted on the American pop charts today when “From Me To You” appeared at #125 on Billboard‘s Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. The track would peak at #116 on Aug. 10, then fall out of the chart after only a total of three weeks.
The Beatles would not chart again in the U.S. until Jan. 18, 1964; “From Me To You” would be re-leased on Jan. 30, 1964 as the B-side to “Please Please Me” and returned to the chart on Feb. 22, 1964.
Video: 'Hyannis Port, August 1963: 2-5'
(Friday, August 2, 1963, late afternoon) — In a scene captured on film and widely shown in future years, a military helicopter carrying U.S. President John F. Kennedy landed today on the lawn of the Kennedy house at Hyannis Port. Waiting for him are his children and Jackie, obviously pregnant with the couple’s third child and in a simple pink summer dress.
(Sunday Wednesday, July 31, 1963, 8:34 p.m.) — A fictional BJ (Billy Joel) and the Affordables performed “Tell Her About It” tonight on The Ed Sullivan Show. Although the 1983 promotional video indicates July 31, 1963, fell on a Sunday (the real ‘Sullivan’ show having aired on Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBS), July 31, 1963, actually fell on a Wednesday. Also on that date, Joel was in reality a 14 year old living in Hicksville, New York.
