Saturday Club 7th January 1964 EP

On January 7th, 1964, The Beatles took time out from their 16-night run at the Finsbury Park Astoria to record their eighth appearance on BBC radio’s long-running Saturday Club show. The recording took place at the Playhouse Theatre, close to Trafalgar Square in London’s West End, hosted by Brian Matthew.

Things were hotting up in the States. Capitol Records had released I Want To Hold Your Hand on December 26th and on January 18th, the US trade magazine Billboard’s lead story announced that the record had just entered the Hot 100 at #45, making it the fastest-breaking disk in the label’s history.