Between October 1962 when they had their first hit single with Love Me Do, and March 1970 when their last official single Let It Be was released, The Beatles had a staggering total of seventeen British number one hits as well as eleven chart-topping albums. Their titles are etched into the minds of anyone old enough to remember.........Please Please Me, From Me To You, She Loves You, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine, Ticket To Ride, Help!, Day Tripper, We Can Work It Out, Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love......the list just goes on and on.

Across the Atlantic Ocean The Beatles' success was even greater, if that was possible. Ironically Capitol Records, which was EMI Records' American record arm, had refused to released their earliest British hits, and these were subsequently issued on small independent labels like Vee-Jay Records in the United Stated . However in January 1964 The Beatles finally triumphantly reached the top slot on the Billboard Hot 100 (America's premier pop chart) with I Want To Hold Your Hand and it opened the floodgate of success.

I Want To Hold Your Hand remained at the top of the American charts for seven weeks and between then and early 1970 The Beatles had a further nineteen U.S. number one hits, selling more than sixty million singles and albums along the way. At the height of Beatlemania the "Fab Four', as they were known to millions of adoring fans, occupied the top five positions in the Billboard Hot 100 and also had the two top -selling albums.

Their appearances at venues like New York's Shea Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, and San Francisco's Candlestick Park attracted thousands of sceeaming fans and it was literally impossible to hear a note of their music being played. However the whole Beatles phenomena was not restricted to just the United States and Britain-it seemed as if the whole universe had gone Beatle-crazy. Wherever they appeared around the world-and no other pop group or singer had travelled more before-they created total hysteria.

Their images on record sleeves, in magazines, on posters, and even printed onto pillow cases and sheets, adorned millions of female teenage bedrooms worldwide while their hairstyles and fashions were slavishly followed young men everywhere. In fact the group was responsible for creating a whole new youth culture. They were the first British pop stars to have regional accents and art college backgrounds, and their collective Liverpudian humour elevated them to the status of pop personalities as opposed to the colourless pop singers who had been very much in vogue during the late Fifties and early Sixties.This Video CD collection "Big Beat Box" features very rare footage of The Beatles during their world travels. It includes film from their first visit to the United States back in January 1964 as well as footage shot during their tours of Australia and Europe. It offers a chance to witness the sheer hysteria that they generated back in the Sixties and includes rare interview footage with John, Paul, George and Ringo, talking in their own inimitable Liverpudian style. There are even glimpses of Jimmy Nichol-the drummer who briefly became a Beatle when he deputised for Ringo Starr (who had had his tonsils removed) during the group's tour of Denmark in 1964.

Three decades later it is perhaps difficult for older fans to recall the kind of hysteria that The Beatles generated back in the Sixties, and those too young to remember probably find it hard to comprehend that there was actually a group before Take That who could provoke such a hysterical reaction from millions of pop fans around the world. The evidence is contained in this Video CD collection which captures the magic of Beatlemania.