1956 The "Million Dollar Quartet"—Presley, Perkins, Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis—records old gospel, country and pop songs at an impromptu session. The recordings aren't officially released until the mid-Eighties.

1962 The Beatles made their London-area debut on television when they appeared in a live broadcast from Wembley on ‘Tuesday Rendezvous’, on ITV station Rediffusion. The Beatles performed live, doing lip-sync performances of ‘Love Me Do’ and 45 seconds of ‘P.S. I Love You.’

1965 The Byrds started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' the group's second No.1. A No.26 hit in the UK. Unlike their first chart topper, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, the entire band was allowed to play on the recording, instead of studio musicians.

1971 Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with the 'Four Symbols' album. Featuring the 8-minute track 'Stairway To Heaven', the album stayed on the US chart for 1 week short of 5 years, selling over 11 million copies.

1982 'The John Lennon Collection' started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart.


1988 Roy Orbison played his final ever gig when he appeared in Cleveland, Ohio. Orbison died of a heart attack two days later.

1993 Frank Zappa dies of prostate cancer at home in Los Angeles, California.