1968: May

12:54 PM GMT 21/02/2008

4 – Having won her heat on TV show Opportunity Knocks, Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin becomes one of Apple Records’ first signings. Her first single, Those Were The Days, is produced by Paul McCartney and will become a huge hit on its release in August. Hopkin will later marry producer Tony Visconti.

5 - Buffalo Springfield perform together for the final time at Long Beach Arena, California. As they take the stage, Stephen Stills is heard to whisper: “This is it”. The band’s members will go on to form some of the most successful acts of the next five years.

6 – Amid continued unrest in Paris, 5000 students march through the Latin Quarter, protesting against the authorities’ recent invasion of the Sorbonne. The ensuing violence reaches its zenith as police begin attacking the marchers with tear gas. Hundreds are taken into custody.

12 – The Stones make their first UK live appearance for more than a year at the annual NME Poll Winners Party. It will be the first time an audience has heard new track Jumpin’ Jack Flash and the last time Brian Jones appears on stage. The band he started six years earlier will soon no longer require his services. In just over a year he will be dead.

12 – Jimi Hendrix is arrested in Toronto for possession of heroin and hash.

13 – Paris, France: a general strike sees over nine million people refuse to work. President de Gaulle pleads for calm via impassioned radio addresses. Meanwhile, proto-prog trio, Aphrodite's Child (led by the mighty Vangelis) release their first single, Rain and Tears. The student protestors love it.

14 – As The Rascals record their melodious call-to-arms, People Got To Be Free, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover initiates a counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO). Its aim is to target and disrupt leftist groups.

14 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney appear on The Tonight Show to promote their new record label/management company/artist stable, Apple. It is the first time either Beatle has appeared on a US chat show. Meanwhile, the other two Fabs attend the premiere of Joe Massot’s film, Wonderwall, at the Cannes Festival.

18 – The Grateful Dead, The Steve Miller Band, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane headline the Northern California Rock Festival.

19 – Johnny Cash plays the Odeon Newcastle.

19 – Having first met at Indica Gallery in November 1966, John Lennon and Yoko Ono spend the night at Lennon’s country pad recording their avant-garde experiment, Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins.

20 – Mick Jagger begins to write the lyrics to a song tentatively titled The Devil Is My Name.

20 – A BBC 2 short play, The Pistol Shot, features a performance from a young, unknown dancer called David Bowie.

24 – The Small Faces release their masterpiece – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake.

30 - At a house in Esher, Surrey, The Beatles tape 23 new demo recordings.

...JUNE

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 12:54 PM GMT 21/02/2008

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