Over the gate...

Designed in 1913 by Victorian/Edwardian/other architect Theophilus A Allen; John Lennon's house between 1964 and 1968; sunroom, attic and prisco stripe hibernice; Mellotron and caravan; Babidji and Mimi; mortar and pestle; Wubbleyoo Dubbleyoo; curios and curiosity; remnants and residue; testimonials and traces; (Cavendish Avenue, Sunny Heights and Kinfauns); Montagu Square; mock Tudor: Brown House: *KENWOOD*.

(Also available as a blog.)

Legal Blah: This blog is for historical research only, and is strictly non-commercial. All visual and audio material remains the property of the respective copyright owner, and no implication of ownership by me is intended or should be inferred. Any copyright owner who wants something removed should contact me and I will do so immediately. Alternatively, I would be delighted to provide a credit. The writing is by me, such as it is, unless otherwise stated, and this is the only Beatles related blog I am responsible for.

Comments Blah: Comments are moderated. Any genuine comments are welcome. Due to idiotic spamming, you'll have to press the "Follow" button on the right under "Kenwoodites..." in order to leave a comment. Offensive comments/advertising/trolling/other moronicisms are not welcome, and will be rejected.
Comments are the responsibility of the individual commenter, and commenters' opinions do not necessarily reflect my own. (NB: This blog revels in flagrant trivia. If that's not yer "thing", this won't be yer "thang".)

Correspond via: kenwoodlennon@googlemail.com

Tuesday 10 December 2013

3a Seymour Walk: St Dunstan's Priory.


Pete Shotton picks a party chez Lionel Bart, held on 9 October 1965 and attended by all four Fabs, as the epitome o' Shwinging Shixties shiznizzle. Bart, extremely successful songwriter that he was, owned "the Priory" (pictured above) in Seymour Walk from 1964-1968, and here it was that the aforementioned wing-ding shwinged. (Get togethers round Lionel's were a regular occurrence, and featured all the accoutrements one might expect. For related reasons, Brian Epstein was both good friends with Mr Bart and a frequent attendee.)
Here Lionel is in the first floor drawing room:


In Pete's book, a couple of Polaroids show Cyn, Patti and Beth Shotton reclining on the remnants of some poor beastie in this very locale:


Bart's piano can just about be discerned:


A couple more "areas":


John apparently loved this place. Quoth Pete: "Much to John's amusement and delight, our gracious host had also contrived to turn his house into a veritable labyrinth of trapdoors, hidden stairways and secret passages. Wandering about the house, John and I were constantly colliding with walls where, but a moment earlier, there had most assuredly been corridors or rooms."
Now. A couple of plans exist, dating from early 1964 and March 1965, and these show the alterations that Bart made to the Priory - here is a bearings-getting red arrow:


Funnily enuff, said plans show no evidence of jiggery, or indeed, pokery of the type that Pete mentions. A couple of doors get altered, the odd window is fiddled aboot with, but that's about it:


However, the ground floor was a rabbit warren (not literally - that would have been ridiculous), and this fact, combined with the freely available substances that were a mainstay of such festivities, might account for etc.:


Lionel 'n' John, John 'n' Lionel:


And that's yer lot.

Monday 9 December 2013

In Gratitude: January 11, 1981.


Around a month after John was killed, Yoko issued a statement which ran as a full page ad in various newspapers. I've seen it quoted before, but hadn't read the full thing. A copy literally fell into my lap at werk the other day, so here, for reasons that don't need stating, it is (scanned at hi-res - download and zoom in to read).