The Beatles ~ Royal Variety Performance (1963)

By the time of the ’’royal show’ at the Prince of Wales Theatre (near London’s Leicester Square) on 4th November 1963, the Fab Four  from Liverpool were already big stars. Their first single Love Me Do  had made it to Number 17 in the British charts in September of the previous year. In January ’63, their second single, Please Please Me, topped the NME’s Independent charts and in April,  From Me To You  topped the UK’s official charts; followed by She Loves You in August. So by November, Beatlemania had swept the country like a ferocious gust of wind. It was a shrewd move on the part of Executive Producer, Bernard Delfont, to book the band on to the Royal Variety Performance when he did. The timing was perfect. They were still the cheeky mop-top ’boy’s next door’ from Liverpool who only a year previously were largely unknown to the British public. Their wit and charm in ’courting’  the press in the weeks leading up to the show, contrasted spectacularly with being booked to perform on the most prestigious stage of them all; with all the pomp and circumstance of ’London ceremony.’  One journalist even asked if they would ’tone down their broad scouse accents for the show’ to which McCartney replied ’we don’t all speak like the BBC you know!’ The timing was pretty good for The Beatles too! ITV had been chosen to broadcast the show and recorded their most viewed show of all time when it was broadcast a week later, on 10th November 1963 to 21.2 Million people! The group achieved their fourth British Number One Single of 1963 with I Wanna Hold Your Hand, days after broadcast. Despite technical problems in rehearsals, it was decidedly brilliant on the night, with all of the audience, including the Queen Mother, enjoying their performance immensely. One news commentator said, “Never in all my years of observing Royal Variety audiences, have I known this usually starch, ’on their best behaviour’ audience, unbend so quickly and completely.“ _____________________________________________ Using the best sources available, I complied them all to create the full 12 minutes of The Beatles one and only performance at the Royal Variety show. Credits:TBA