Prince of Wales Theatre, the Beatles' 1963 Royal Variety Performance

The Beatles played the Royal Variety Performance on 4 November 1963 at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Coventry Street, just off Leicester Square in London. The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were in the royal box, and this was the night of Lennon's joke about rattling jewellery. The theatre still stages shows, but it has no Beatles plaque.

Seventh on a bill of nineteen

The Royal Variety Performance raises money for the Royal Variety Charity, which helps people who work in entertainment. In 1963 it was held at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Monday 4 November. The Beatles were seventh of 19 acts. Marlene Dietrich, with Burt Bacharach, was on the same bill, along with Joe Loss and his orchestra, Charlie Drake, Dickie Henderson and the cast of Steptoe and Son.

The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret attended. Queen Elizabeth II did not, because she was pregnant with Prince Edward. That matters for the story, since many retellings have Lennon aiming his line at the Queen.

The group played four songs: From Me to You, She Loves You, Till There Was You and Twist and Shout.

The jewellery line

Before Twist and Shout, Lennon asked the people in the cheaper seats to clap along and suggested everyone else could rattle their jewellery. Cameras caught the royal party smiling. Lennon said later that he had been terribly nervous and wanted to rebel a little.

Accounts differ on whether he planned it. Slate's 2013 retelling says Brian Epstein was worried beforehand that Lennon would say something ruder. McCartney remembered lines like that as made up on the spot. The next day's headlines included "Beatles Rock the Royals", and the Queen Mother is reported to have called it one of the best shows she had seen.

ITV showed a recording of the performance on Sunday 10 November 1963, and about 21.2 million people watched. Three weeks earlier the band had topped the bill at the London Palladium, the show many date as the start of Beatlemania.

Getting in and out past the fans

Fans packed Coventry Street and police had to hold them back. To get the Beatles in and out without being seen, a screened passageway was built between the theatre and the hotel next door.

The theatre today

The Prince of Wales opened in 1884. The building you see now was designed by Robert Cromie in Art Deco style and opened in 1937, so the Beatles played in the current building. It is Grade II listed and has 1,148 seats. Delfont Mackintosh Theatres runs it, and The Book of Mormon plays there. You need a ticket to see the auditorium, and no plaque or sign mentions the Beatles. Trident Studios, where Hey Jude was recorded, is a short walk north in Soho.