Written 'to order' as a Beatles single, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote 'From Me To You' after deciding they needed to get the words 'me' and 'you' into their song titles to appeal directly to fans. But when this song, initially destined to be the B side, turned out so well, it HAD to be put on the A side of their third single. Released on 11th April 1963, it stormed the UK 's Top 20s, including, this time around, the obscure Record Retailer Chart which had placed their previous 45 only at number 2. This time, there would be no doubt- The Beatles had arrived- but would they be here to stay?
Fresh from success with Spiderman, Steve Ditko came up with the idea of "Dr Strange- The Master of Black Magic!" in this months Strange Tales comic (cover date July1963). Stan Lee put the dialogue to it, and Stan Goldberg did the iconic colour scheme. Although there had been mysterious magicians in comics, on radio and in movies before, none of them were quite like this. Steve Ditko's unique, unsettling art and Lee's hyperbolic dialoguing (Ditko generally plotted the stories while drawing) took this series into world's weirder and more wonderous than any comic book before. 
A sampling of the abundance of reading matter available this week in 1963. The movies still dominate, with Burton and Taylor's onscreen and offscreen romance and Sophia Loren prominent, and Alfred Hitchcock's "own" Mystery magazine. But there are titles 'exclusively for gentlemen' and titles 'exclusively for ladies' too.
What to make of this? Sultry and slightly barking American cabaret star Eartha Kitt certainly knew how to advertise!
Ian Fleming's ultra cool spy James Bond, 007- licensed to kill- had made a big splash with his debut movie in 1962 and made an overnight star of Sean Connery. Now, on 8th April 1963, came his second big screen adventure- From Russia With Love. Bond is searching for a Russian decoding machine before the evil SPECTRE organization finds it. Naturally, being Bond, there's romance afoot with a Russian, Tatiana Romanova, travelogue backdrops of Istanbul, all the while being shot at and hunted down by SPECTRE agents- one of whom even possesses an incredible poison tipped shoe. Could happen to anyone, but see what you think in this typically breathless 1963 vintage trailer:
When this comic hit the stands in April 1963 (the cover date was always three months after the onsale date in those days), few could have known how significant it would be. Written by Stan Lee and drawn (and co-plotted) by Steve Ditko, the most idiosyncratic of all 1960s comics artists, the story involves a mad scientist, and a hero who eventually triumphs. Nothing unusual there- but the treatment given that most overused of cliched storylines, even then, is nothing short of revolutionary! The mad scientist doesn't burst upon the scene a ready-formed villain, he's a good guy, a respected pioneer who suffers an appalling injury which affects his mind. The hero (Spiderman) struggles with his inability to quickly defeat his opponent, and wonders whether to give up, until a casual incognito meeting with another costumed hero gives him the determination to press on and prevail. Phew! Quite a development, and a sign that this funny little comic company with the garish colours and dark artwork was going places- but who knew where?
On April 9th, 1963, President John F Kennedy conferred the then-unique honour of American Citizenship on a foreigner- former British prime Minister Winston Churchill, of course, who else? Officially in recognition of his role as War leader, the honour may have been a little more palatable for those in American politics who favoured insularity as Churchill's mother was American, making him only half-British anyway. Then frail after a stroke while Prime Minister in the 1950s, and approaching 90, Churchill watched the ceremony at home in Britain as the latest wonder of the age, Telstar, provided live TV pictures from the White House lawn. 
