It’s hard to believe now, but in 1963 the Beatles were listed last among a series of opening acts on a poster for a concert tour of England. Fresh from a grueling series of gigs at the Cavern Club in Hamburg, where the boys from Liverpool sharpened their performing skills, their manager looked for any venue that would draw the attention of their fellow Brits back their direction.

The headliner, a new pop star named Helen Shapiro was, as Ringo recalled, the only one who had a television in her dressing room, but she was, after all, the one everyone really came out to hear!

So John and Paul prepared for the future as they sat in the back of the bus traveling from town to town, writing new songs they hoped to sell to others. 

But partway during the tour their early recordings became sudden hits.…