Today marks the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ first hit song, ‘Love Me Do’ (October 5, 2012). To mark the occasion, a choir of 1631 people gathered in the band’s home town of Liverpool to set a new world record. The choir sang ‘Love Me Do’ with a new section of the choir starting the song a few bars after the previous section until the entire choir is singing the song, but at slightly different parts. According to the BBC, the group met at Pier Head at 12:000 BST today to sing the song, which reached number 17 in the UK charts in 1962. The previous record for the number of people in a choir, singing in a round, was set in Chicago, in 2011.

The Beatles’ career will be remembered in a forthcoming BBC documentary this Sunday (October 7, 2012). Entitled Love Me Do: The Beatles ’62, the documentary will reveal how Brian Epstein purchased 10,000 copies of the single, in order to propel the band into the charts and get them known amongst the Great British record-buying public. Members of The Merseybeats also recall, in the programme, how Epstein would encourage them to go out and buy copies of the single, too, to help The Beatles get into the charts.

A re-mastered version of the band’s film The Magical Mystery Tour is also being shown on the BBC on Sunday, after receiving its debut screening in London earlier this week.