50 YEARS: RINGO MADE HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AS THE BEATLES OFFICIAL

This year marks 50 years since the Beatles smashed onto the music scene and changed the shape of history (an. On 18 August 1962, Ringo Starr made his first appearance as the Beatles official drummer at Hulme Hall in the village of Port Sunlight, Wirral. The four members of the band had a two hour rehearsal before taking to the stage as the headline act in the local Horticultural Society's 17th annual dance. On that night the Fab Four were born...the rest is history.

The Cavern Club is organising International Beatles Week from 22-28 August, an international event with bands from over 20 countries and fans from over 40. As well as live gigs, there are exhibitions, memorabilia sales, guest speakers, video shows, sightseeing tours and a convention. Highlights include a Paul McCartney 70^th Birthday Tribute at the Philharmonic Hall, and the 20^th Mathew Street Music Festival, a major annual event with five stages outdoors all over the city. The world’s biggest Beatles convention – for die-hard fans – is also part of the festival.

To celebrate, Beatles fans have to go to Liverpool, the buzzing city in England’s Northwest where you can visit John and Paul’s childhood homes and see Strawberry Field, inspiration, of course, for Strawberry Fields Forever. It’s where the story began and continues to this day. The Beatles played early gigs at the Cavern Club appearing over 300 times at what became an iconic venue. The venue is still open seven nights a week with a range of live music nights and DJs; this year they are putting on Beatles tribute bands every Saturday night in the venue’s Live Lounge.

Liverpool is Beatles-central all year round. Mathew Street is home to statues of the Fab Four, Beatles shops and the luxurious Hard Days Night, Beatles-themed hotel. The Beatles Story is a must-see to get into Beatles mode, for a fascinating look into the life, times, music and culture of the group. To celebrate the release of The Beatles’ first single, The Beatles Story is putting on a special Love Me Do Weekend at the Albert Dock over the weekend of 5–7 October.

Later on in the year, Liverpool Philharmonic Beatles Weekend will take over the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall from 7-9 December. You can re-live the sights and sounds of the sixties with the world’s premier Beatles tribute band The Bootleg Beatles and, a sell-out in 2008 and 2010, The John Lennon Songbook will return by popular demand: The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will be joined by vocalists Joe Stilgoe, Claire Martin and Mark McGann to perform classics such as Imagine, Woman and Ticket to Ride.

The Beatles also lived and worked in London. Abbey Road Studios is where they recorded many of their songs, including All You Need Is Love and Love Me Do. The famous pelican crossing where the group posed for the cover of Abbey Road is just up the road and has been given listed status. You can visit with three friends and reenact that immortal moment of history. London will be letting its hair down to commemorate The Beatles from September to January 2013 with a spectacular new West End show in the group’s honour – Let It Be – featuring the Fab Four’s most famous hits. It is set to be ‘a media rich theatrical concert created by the global phenomenon RAIN, which showcases the works of the world’s most successful rock’n’roll band, using dazzling video footage to tell the story of the band’s meteoric rise from their humble beginnings in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, through the height of Beatlemania, to their later studio masterpieces. It is the first time that the Grand Theatrical Rights to The Beatles’ back catalogue have been granted by Sony/ATV for a West End production.’ And where it all ended, 3 Savile Row just off Regents Street, is the venue of the last ever Beatles concert, held on the rooftop of Apple Records in January 1969, and though you can’t visit, you can stare from the outside! Fans will also want to eat at the Hard Rock Café where you can see John Lennon's original handwritten lyrics to Imagine and Instant Karma and the glasses and jacket which he wore during a Beatles concert in New York.