The Beatles turned pop into an art form and sold an estimated 600 million records

pop & funWikipedia1960–1970 · Liverpool, England

The Beatles turned pop into an art form and sold an estimated 600 million records

the gist

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Starting in the clubs of Liverpool and Hamburg, they went from their first hit, Love Me Do, in late 1962 to international stars by early 1964, a rise dubbed Beatlemania. Their sound drew on skiffle, rock and roll, classical music, folk, Indian music and psychedelia, and studio albums from Rubber Soul to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road pushed pop toward being recognised as an art form. They stopped touring in 1966 to focus on the studio, split in 1970, and remain the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of over 600 million units.

so what

The Beatles reshaped the music industry through songwriting, studio techniques and the album format, and their influence spread into the youth culture of the 1960s. Their chart records, including 20 US Hot 100 number-one singles, still set the benchmark for popular music. Their story also shows how a band's studio ambitions can outgrow the demands of live touring.

fun fact

Their 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show drew an estimated 73 million American viewers.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗