On this date in 1963, the Beatles began their first UK tour at the Gaumont Cinema in Bradford, Yorkshire. They were the sixth billed of six acts, below the headliner, Helen Shapiro, and such other luminaries(?) as Danny Williams, The Kestrels, Kenny Lynch, and The Honeys. Hard to imagine this given what was soon to come! Each night of the tour consisted of an early show and a late show, and on this date, due to treacherous weather, the theater was largely empty.
On this night, the Beatles wore "posh burgundy suits with velvet collars" and played Chains, Keep Your Hands Off My Baby, Please Please Me, Love Me Do, Beautiful Dreamer and
A Taste of Honey (which one reviewer called their best number of the night). Despite their sixth billing, some observers took note of them, with the
Yorkshire Post reporter stating in his column that, "Best of all, there were four young men from Liverpool called The Beatles who, I predict, will go from strength to strength this year. They sing and strum their guitars with enormous, infectious zest."
The photographer Stanley Richardson likewise noted that the Beatles "brought the house down. They just lit the whole show up. They were vibrant, alive, kicking - and the audience responded to them. They really stole the show." Mr. Richardson also made what we'll consider the boneheaded move of the night: refusing, despite the entreaties of Brian Epstein, to take more than one photo of the group. In describing that one photo, he said, "The picture was taken in the foyer. We were trying to get a picture and interview with Helen, but she refused. Then these Liverpool lads piped up: ‘We’ll have our pictures taken.’ His Lordship was there in his white suit and pink carnation and he said, ‘Come on, come on, take a picture of my boys.’ I went home and processed it and returned for the end of the second house. I remember Epstein putting his arm around me and saying, ‘Oh darling, I want you to take a whole set of pictures of my boys.’ I refused. It sounds crazy now, but I’d taken pictures of pop stars before and you hardly ever got paid."
As I described last week, with apologies to James Brown, the lads were the hardest working men in show business. They didn't join the rest of the performers on the tour bus to this show because they had instead performed two shows the previous night, and returned to Liverpool after the two-show bill on this date to perform yet again at the Cavern Club.
I've come around to the idea that it's not as bad as I thought. OH does not agree; here were his thoughts:
took another 4 years. 
