On the 22nd of February 1963, the Beatles achieved their first Number One Single in the UK, with Please Please Me. It stayed at the top for 2 weeks.

I recall the occasion clearly and had my ear pressed to my tranny to listen to the Chart countdown.

Please Please Me was recorded on the 26th November 1962 and although George Martin originally wanted to release How Do You Do It as The Beatles second single, he eventually agreed that Please Please Me was a better choice. Prophetically he said, "Congratulations gentlemen, you've just recorded your first Number One single".

The single itself was released on the 11th January 1963 and made slow but steady progress through the lower reaches of the charts, finally hitting the top spot some 6 weeks after release. All of the leading Music journals of the day, Melody Maker, New Musical Express and Disc, recorded the event. A minor magazine of the day had it at number 2. EMI were so pleased by this that they took out adverts in the music press congratulating the group, later in the year when the Please Please Me album was released, Tony Barrow wrote in the liner notes:

"The Beatles proved their pop power when they by-passed the lower segments of the Hit Parade to scuttle straight into the Nations Top Ten with their second single Please Please Me. This brisk-selling disc went on to overtake all rivals when it bounced into the coveted Number One slot towards the end of February.”

Later in 1963 Parlophone issued a four track EP, The Beatles Hits, which contained Please Please Me. Once more Tony Barrow provides the liner notes:

"Next came Please Please Me, which stayed in the charts throughout February and March of 1963, reached the coveted number one slot (and) earned the Beatles their first Silver Disc..."

So there we have it the very first Number One by The lads...except for one thing! History has now been re-written and the single has been consigned to the Number Two Slot! Who’s behind this you might well ask...and the answer would be none other than the mighty Beeb! Despite the fact that Brian Matthews refers to Please Please Me as a chart topper on the Beeb Tapes!

The first time that I knew that something was wrong was watching Mike Reid’s Pop Quiz, the guests included Frank Rossi and Rick Parfitt from Status Quo and Reid asked the panel "What was the Beatles first Number One?" Rick quite correctly in my opinion, answered Please Please Me, but Reid said he was wrong and the correct answer was From Me To You! Both Parfitt and Rossi looked puzzled, as was I. A couple of days later I wrote to Reid asking where he obtained his information...silence was the deafening reply…perhaps he was busy!

After a while I thought no more of it, the perceived wisdom had always been that Please Please Me was the boy’s first number one. Then a few more strange things started to happen....

The album 1962 to 1966 was released and although the notes confirmed the chart history, a little addendum made mention of the fact that the BBC did not use any of those charts, but another and their charts had it at number two...well slap me with a wet fish, but until 1969 the BBC did not have it's own charts...they used an average of all the others. Now if the three leading charts had it as number one and only one chart had it at number two, who was doing the Math? Cheetah the Chimpanzee?

To make matters worse, EMI rolled over completely in 1982 when Twenty Greatest Hits was released, with no mention at all of Please Please Me. All of the other tracks did reach the top spot (Love Me Do in the US, not the UK). The controversy continued when EMI released a compilation album of Number Two hits, and there Please Please Me was!

Fast forward a couple of decades and we got the "One" album - missing again, but this time there was a lot more noise from the fans, which EMI simply batted away. On July 29, 2006, The Official UK Charts company changed their records because there was a postal strike when the album, "All Things Must Pass" had originally been on the charts. Why can't we have the same courtesy extended to Please Please Me? That really would Please, Please Us...all of us.

Walrus