"It was __ years ago today..."

B&W photo from: Breathing Books

"I grew up with these books [In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works by John Lennon], as they had been lying around the house from the time of their publications, 1964 and 1965. Luckily their warped, occasionally sick humour, and what would now be racism and sexism beyond the pale, did not scar me for life, but there were occasions when I wondered whether they would. No one seemed to mind at the time, in those innocent days when Lennon could do no wrong. If anyone got upset or asked for their money back I haven't heard of it. And as he later did with 'Revolution 9' a few years later, Lennon capitalised on the world's fascination with almost everything the group did to smuggle a work of subversive originality into the mainstream."

— Nicholas Lazard, The Guardian
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"9.00am, Friday 9 April 1965 […]. The first song released to the public from The Beatles' forthcoming 'Help!' album was the 'Ticket To Ride' single, released as Parlophone R 5265.
     The b-side was 'Yes It Is,' John Lennon's attempt to rewrite his earlier 'This Boy.'
     The single entered the UK charts on 15 April. The following week reached number one, where it remained for three weeks. In all it spent 12 weeks in the hit parade.
     'Ticket To Ride' was released on 19 April 1965 in the United States."
— The Beatles Bible
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Also on this day, in 1970, Paul McCartney told the world that The Beatles had decided to split up.

See a related post here...