July 31st
1968: Working at Trident studios in London, England, (with its 8-track equipment, EMI was still using 4-track recorders), The Beatles recorded four takes of ‘Hey Jude’.
August 1st
1963: The first 'Beatles Monthly' was published. A magazine devoted to the group, it continued until 1969 and at its peak was selling over 350,000 copies a month.
1964: The Beatles scored their fifth US No.1 single in seven months when 'A Hard Day's Night' went to the top of the charts. The group had now spent seventeen weeks at the No.1 position in this year.
1971: The Concert For Bangla Desh, organised by George Harrison to aid victims of famine and war in Bangla Desh took place at New York's Madison Sq Garden. Featuring Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar and members from Badfinger. Harrison had to shell out his own money to maintain the fund after legal problems froze all proceeds. The triple album release (the second in a row by Harrison), hit number 1 in the UK and No.2 in the US and received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
2007: John Lennon's "granny" sunglasses were snapped up by a British collector at auction. The sunglasses, from one of the last Beatles concerts, were expected to fetch around £1m, but auction bosses refused to say what the actual figure was. Lennon gave the gold-rimmed glasses to his Japanese interpreter in Tokyo in 1966, and the translator removed the lenses when Lennon died.
