The Beatles

Fossils at Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Art, History, , ,

It’s the 50th anniversary of the Beatles being “The Beatles” so I’m planning a visit to the Liverpool John Lennon Airport, where the slogan is “above us only sky.”

Poking around the airport’s website this weekend, I discovered that it’s really easy to get to JLA from Amsterdam and that the Liverpool airport has a John Lennon statue, a yellow submarine, and lots of Lennon, Beatles, and other art that I hope to be able to see – and report back on – in person.

In the meantime, I was delighted to find a downloadable Fossil Mystery Tour brochure on the John Lennon Airport website.  Many of the limestone slabs used to build the terminal contain fossils and, with the brochure in hand, you’ll be able to walk around the terminal and see Ammonites, Belemnites and Trace Fossils.

Anniversary of Beatles touch-down at JFK

Events, History, Music,

On this day, February 7, back in 1964 the world changed dramatically:

The Beatles, those adorable  moptops, came to New York.

beatles-at-jfk

(Photo: The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey)

The History.com newsletter describes the momentous day this way:

On February 7, 1964, Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London Heathrow lands at New York’s Kennedy Airport–and “Beatlemania” arrives. It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles, a British rock-and-roll quartet that had just scored its first No. 1 U.S. hit six days before with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” At Kennedy, the “Fab Four”–dressed in mod suits and sporting their trademark pudding bowl haircuts–were greeted by 3,000 screaming fans who caused a near riot when the boys stepped off their plane and onto American soil.

Two days later, John, Paul, George and Ringo appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and, well, you probably know the rest.

How are you celebrating the day?  In my house, we’re having a Beatles festival!

The Beatles, Jimmy Durante and more … at JFK

Celebrities, History, , ,

The New York Times has a great slideshow celebrating the earliest days of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

Built on “six square miles of swampy sand, part of it the site of a once-fashionable golf course…” in its first few years the airport welcomed everyone from Gregory Peck and Pope Paul VI to, of course, the Beatles!’

(Photo: The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey)

There are more photos here – including Jimmy Durante and Sammy Davis Jr.