I’m going to guess that not many readers will read this immediately upon posting, either because when posted you were out, or you were already in bed.

Perhaps that was the problem for the Beatles in 1962, when they went to Decca Records for an audition, and Decca declined to sign them.

Before that, the number one single (for the second time) today in 1956:

Today in 1964, BBC-TV premiered “Top of the Pops”:

The number one single today in 1966:

Today in 1967, the Doors made their first live TV appearance, on KTLA in Los Angeles:

Today in 1968, the ABC Radio Network split into four separate networks, each with their own news sounder:

The number one British single today in 1977 got almost no American airplay:

Today in 1982, ABBA made its final live appearance:

The short list of birthdays starts with Country Joe MacDonald:

Jim Gordon was a drummer for such groups as Derek and the Dominos who ended his career by murdering his mother and receiving a life sentence upon conviction:

Morgan Fisher played keyboards and was one of the young dudes of Mott the Hoople:

One death of note: Hank Williams, at 29 in 1953:

• Music