Kenwood: the French seamstress.

Not this titting photo again...even I am saying it. Oh yes...this photo is the most familiar remnant of Lennon-era Kenwood; it's been seen a hundred times in a hundred books, and whenever a picture editor needs a photo to illustrate John's "torpor" during the Kenwood years, this is the one they go for. (To be fair, there isn't a lot of choice in the "illustrating John's torpor at Kenwood" department.)
And yet, whatever it is, it's not that. The woman sitting on the left turns out to be...the French seamstress. Ron de Bruijn has spotted that the footwear matches. I thought it might have been Cyn, or Marijke, but it's not - it's our Gallic tailor. And you can see John's black jacket too.
So what is happening here is as follows: John on the couch flicking through International Times, waiting for the tailor, sitting on the chair opposite, to finish his jacket, so he can get on with the photo session. As soon as the jacket was fitted, photos were taken in the entrance hall, and by the swimming pool.


Thus, this pic actually gives the lie to the consensual view that John was just sitting on his arse at Kenwood. (Though I think the songs he wrote are a better, and more obvious, illustration...he may not have been happy, but he was certainly productive.)
It's possible to see something new in a very familiar photo...and there will be more to come regarding this particular pic.