Kenwood: in Wonderland.

Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland was broadcast by the BBC on December 28th, 1966. It's a safe bet that John was watching, given his love of the source material, and a cast filled with people he knew, such as Peter Cook, Leo McKern and Wilfred Brambell (not to mention the score by Ravi Shankar).
His opinion of it, however, I know not.


The film emphasises the absurd, chimerical qualities of Lewis Carroll's narrative, and presents a disturbed child's eye view of bewildering "adult" mores.


Alice wanders around in a literal dream, questioning both her own identity, and the house of cards qualities evident in the society she encounters. John, as ye must know, was at the height of his acid gobbling phase around this period, and the enervated, dark, funny if disturbing imagery must have struck a note in him.


It's perhaps of interest that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was written soon after. Also possibly noteworthy that John spent a great deal of money in 1964 and early '65 paying for Ken Partridge's interior design at Kenwood, only to rip most of it out at some later point, for some later reason.


Not that I'm suggesting anything, like.

Mendips: back garden, 1979 & now.

You can, of course, now visit Mendips, and note for yourself the notably mock-Tudor view from John's old bedroom. One bit that remains off-limits (at least as far as an unaccompanied "shufti" goes), however, is the back garden. Above, a photo from circa 1979, showing the big tree there, upon which John once did squat, apparently.
From a slightly different angle, the same location these days:


The garden doesn't look much like it did back in the Mimi-era apparently (again), though there are currently attempts to put that right. I hope that a proper stroll round it is incorporated into the tour once that has been completed. Incidentally, a trip to the auld hoose is highly recommended, if you haven't already done so (and even if you have).
The tour, though a little on the short side, is excellent, and, best of all, you are given a few minutes at the end to wander round the house at will; John would, apparently (yet again), be very careful when going up the stairs at night, generally having come in a bit the worse for wear, not to wake Mimi by treading on those floorboards of a squeaky disposition: noting which these are, or humming a few bars of Slayer in the front porch provide considerable amusement.

Penny Lane: then unt now.

I've long had it in mind to do an "appreciation" of the Penny Lane promo film, but the more I went into it, the longer it became, and the longer it became, the less sense it made, even to me. Thusly and thankfully, instead here are a few sundry bits and pieces on a theme of drivel about Penny Lane.
The film opens with a shot of John walking on the King's Road in Chelsea, at Markham Square; here's the same spot now:


He walks up and down what is a short length of pavement, probably in an attempt to convey John "on the street" (or in this case "Lane" though in fact it's a "Road" next to a "Square")(see what I "mean"?) observing the various "items" detailed in the lyric. Why John and not Paul? I don't know. Why this particular short stretch of the King's Road? Again I don't know, but Mary Quant's shop Bazaar was on the corner, as was the restaurant Alexander's, both frequented by the Beatles, so maybe it had something to do with that; somewhere John could hide between takes, possibly.
Here he is walking in the other direction, and again, ein now:


There's some messing about with horses etc, which has been covered on this blog at revolting length elsewhere, but here's something I've never seen explained: The naughtiest line in the song is, of course, the one about fish and finger pie. (I recently saw a Liverpool guide to Beatles sites attempting to pass this off as a reference to the local chip shop. Which in a sense it probably was. And in another sense, most definitely wasn't, as some of you may even have experienced.)
Ver thing is, at ver equivalent point in ver film, there are close ups of ver lads, three of whom are clearly saying something into ver camera, and judging by ver expressions on ver faces of ver lads, it may well be something related. I can say no more that that. Except, to say more than that, cutting film in the pre-digital age was a painstaking process; that bit of film is there at that point for a reason.
Right, Johnny?:


Riiight. A "potential" alternative to the above, given that related shots of various locales around Penny Lane itself feature prominently in the film, might have been the terraced house at 73 Lidderdale Road, in the Penny Lane area:


Any of you who have read Pete Shotton's amusing and informative tome will recall the scenes of youthful sexual misadventure involving John, Pete and their then girlfriends, which occurred in the then front room at this very address, the then home of Shotton's then girlfriend (then later wife) Beth. There may well have been fish (and then chips).
Moving on, the shelter in the middle of a roundabout was a common hangout for John and cronies during his yoot. It was later turned into a "bistro" (whatever that is - something to do with the 1970's, I gather):


Here's how it looks now (ie derelict):


There is movement, however; the day I was there the inside was being cleared:


The Barber showing etc etc etc, still there too, though no longer Bioletti:


Finally, finally, something of more interest: The Old Dutch Cafe; Pete Shotton worked (or possibly "worked" but let's give him the benefit of any doubt) here, and it was a regular stopping off point for the Beatles on their way home from gigs at the Cavern and elsewhere, mainly because it stayed open late and Pete would, I daresay, have given them stuff for free. The cafe was within grogging (later "grooving", then back to grogging, followed by mugging and now stabbing) distance of central Penny Lane, and, although long gone, somewhat remarkably, the sign remains:


Nice!
Now go about yer business.

Kenwood: more drive, 1967.

More "fannage", in the drive at Kenwood, summer, 1967. "Fannage", I tell you. "Fannage".

Kenwood: sunroom, June 29, 1967.

Yet another June 29 French seamstress pic, in the sunroom, of course. That makes five, so far, and surely not many more...

Southport Road, Scarisbrick: Water Werks.

One thing not usually included in John's list of achievements is "labourer", and yet a labourer he was, for a whole month in 1959, at the none-more-prosaic Scarisbrick Water Works. Reason for leaving, amusingly, given simply as "Unsuitable":


Indeed so, I would have thought.

Kenwood: more front door.

Another "interesting" shot emerges - John answering the door to a fan sometime in 1968. This must be Two Virgins era, possibly from the period just before Yoko and he moved to Montagu Square.
The above shamelessly filched from Miss Tammy, the below shamelessly filched from Meet The Beatles For Real:

Kenwood: more sunroom.

A charming snap of Julian, on the fabled couch in the sunroom at Kenwood, probably circa late '66/early '67. This pic may well have been taken around the same time as the header image above. Or not. Note the rug. Or don't. (See labels below. Or etc.).
Thanks to the fabled Eric Nernie for submitting this.

Kenwood: living room - 16th June, 1965.

On the above date, a "meeting" was apparently held in the living room at Kenwood to discuss Ringo's vocal contribution to the Help! album. The above pic shows the "discussion" reaching its climax, with Act Naturally the winner, upon which some form of revelry involving some form of dancing was engaged in:


Good old noble (other) Alf. This one's been on here before too, but here it is again, for reasons of etc:

Kenwood: yet more Nothing.

Having stated categorically that no pictures exist showing a Nothing Box inside Kenwood...errr...here's a picture showing a Nothing Box inside Kenwood. This pic has been on here before, but cropped; the little blighter is there behind John in the uncropped version:


Also of "interest", given that this photo was taken in the library (aka the Den), is that the slightly wider perspective allows one to gain further clues to the reading material on offer. The only two tomes that I can make out are yer classic Shikshtiesh fare, ie For Your Eyes Only on the left, and something by Dennis Wheatley on the right:


A conceptual prize of Nothing whatsoever to any "readahs" who recognise any others.

Nothing Box: more nothing.

As a little addendum to the Nothing Boxes - more John with same, captured in 1965, by photographer Brian Duffy. Duffy recalled that John had just come back from the US, where he'd had his teeth "done", which supports the idea that he bought them (the Nothing Boxes, not his teeth - that would be ridiculous) whilst in the States. Note: in the last pic he's started doing that weird thing with his tongue that he did - possibly as a result of having his teeth fixed. See my forthcoming four volume study "The Tongue Movements Of John Lennon: A Four Volume Study". I jest (lest there be any doubt).
Duffy further recalled that John was "just like any nice, normal, intelligent person." Wot no "antics"?!

Kenwood: Nothing Boxes.

Maureen Cleave described it thusly: "In the sitting room are eight little green boxes with winking red lights; he bought them as Christmas presents but never got round to giving them away. They wink for a year; one imagines him sitting there till next Christmas, surrounded by the little winking boxes." For Peter Brown, it was this(ly): "Across one of the cabinet doors (in the sunroom) John had stuck an advertising sticker that said "Milk Is Good". On the top shelf was a set of black light boxes, twinkling silently, while on the table in the corner a green lava lamp slowly undulated."
And so it goes on... the Nothing Box is a must-have feature of any self-respecting description of Kenwood; as we've seen, John owned several, and liked them too, so the story goes, largely because on acid one can apparently think of nothing better than a box that blinks lights on and off at random until the battery runs out. Look the thing up on t'internet, and you'll be told that Magic Alex was the inventor; this was what first drew John to him, for reasons outlined above.
The question, as ever, is "How much of this is bullshit?" The answer, as ever, is "Probably a fair bit". John must have bought them (if Christmas presents they were) sometime in 1965, and possibly in (or from) the US; they were certainly on sale there, as the following advert proves:


Peter Brown (who manages to get at least two things wrong in the above quote) said that Alex invented a "light box" for the Rolling Stones stage show; I can't have been the only one to have read accounts of the Nothing Box over the years, and imagined something spectacularly psychedelic. Which it isn't. And it's clearly not suitable for drawing attention away from the prannying antics of Sir Mick Jagger. So Alex's light box and the Nothing Box are unlikely to be the same thing.
Curiously, of all the photos taken inside Kenwood, not a single one shows a Nothing Box.
Now, you're obviously thinking "Yes! I must have one!" But as far as I know, to do so you'll need to acquire a bent for at-home electronics, and then make yer own. Here's the schematic:


...and more details (and a completed one) can be found on the site of a Mr Mike Ellis HERE.
Interestingly, the Nothing Box wasn't the only such thing at Kenwood. In February 1967, John bought H. Garcia Rossi's Boite Lumineuse No. 19 (that's Light Box No. 19 to you and me, unless you are French), a canny investment:


Horacio Garcia Rossi was the key figure in the group GRAV, whose idea was to create art not for “the eyes of the cultivated, the sensitive, the intellectual, the aesthete or the connoisseur”, but rather to construct a new kind of universal art that could be appreciated by anyone with a functioning eye or two. Light was, therefore, the medium of choice. Also interestingly, if you read Hunter Davies's biography, largely constructed around at-home interviews conducted in 1967, the GRAV manifesto, applied to music (and ears), is almost exactly what the Beatles were espousing (though John, for one, had changed his tune a little by the end of the following year).
Anyway, here's one of Rossi's light boxes, though not the one John bought:


Here endeth the bullshit (for today). (PS If any of you crazy kids out there can actually make a Nothing Box (let alone a Boite Lumineuse), do write in.)

50 Pubs Associated With The Beatles:...

No. 42: Childwall Fiveways Hotel. These days a Wetherspoons, the car park of this pub provided the venue for a famous portrait of Eppy plus "stable". The area is pretty much unchanged almost 50 years on:


The wall unhacked to bits by Japanese admirers, thus far:


I have it on good authority that these pics weren't taken in November '63, as is sometimes claimed, but rather on the morning of June 18th, ie Paul's birthday, and the day John took a shovel to Bob Wooler. Licensing laws back then restricted opening hours to 12 noon–2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. It's possible that a pint or two had already been sunk when these pics were taken, and equally possible that so it continued. John was a notoriously bad drunk after more than a couple, and would lay into people verbally, and occasionally physically, as Bob could attest (though he never did). Still, it was all fun and games at this point:

Kenwood: summer, 1967.

I said there would be more of these:


... and so there are. Speaking of the sunroom, which I wasn't, the virtual one is almost complete. I've had a preview, and, to use the parlance, it blew my (admittedly ravaged) mind. Check out the Beatles In 3D blog (link under Friends & Neighbours) for some updates, and watch this space.

Kenwood: more video - 2010.

The latest from Joe Baiardi, showing the state of play at Kenwood towards the end of last year. Nothing internal, but plenty oot. The bits of most interest are (probably) at around 13.30 (a glimpse of the hitherto unseen area round the former garage side) and 14.30 (those steps are owld). The sounds, as regular "readahs" will know, are those of John (plus an occasional Richie) arsing around in the attic circa '66/7.
The new swimming pool is clearly a bit of a footsore, and the new windows are a poor idea. But I've said all this before, to no purpose beyond bleating into the wind.
Many thanks to Joe, as ever.

50 Pubs Associated With The Beatles:...

No.44: The Grapes. Any such "survey" would be a tragic waste of time (errr...) were it not to include this place (and Ye Cracke, of course, of which more anon). Just down the road from the Cavern, and a regular stopping off point for all the Merseybeat bands, it also boasts the only picture that I know of to feature them en-piste in a British pub. How much the Grapes now resembles the hostelry of yore is a matter of debate; the exterior has been completely remodelled, and the corner where they supped is, in common with much else in "Mythew St" (to quote a pithy Woolerism), possibly over-Beatled:


According to the venerable Savage Young Beatles site, the pic in question is actually back to front, as are certain others on these pages (comments duly etceterad - but I can't be arsed doing anything about it). It should look like this (and note too the surviving section of wallpaper):


As I was sat ruminating on these and other matters of world import, a couple of locals came over for a look at the spot (known as the Royal Table, apparently. Yes, I know); having discussed it for a few minutes, one of them delivered his parting shot - "That sign should read 'Two twats once sat here'". Two? Hmmm. Moving swiftly on:


No.43: The White Star. Just off Mathew St, and the other Merseybeat locale, much frequented by ye-know-who, apparently. There is even a metal plaque to this effect just by the entrance:


Said back room, again, somewhat over-Beatled (and this is me saying that):


More anon, and 50 might not cover it.

Kenwood: Wired - Roger Manser reminisces.

Always good to hear from someone who was actually there (and also good to get back to what this ridiculous blog is supposed to be about): Roger Manser worked at Kenwood as a Sparky in 1964/65, and here are his memories of that time, written specially for this ridiculous blog:

"I originally came from Somers Town which is between Euston & Kings Cross stations where I was born; now live in Cuffley, married since 1969 to Valerie, have one daughter & one son; have three grandsons by my daughter. I am now 63 semi retired.
Worked as apprentice electrician age 16/17, 1964/65 at John Lennon’s house, Weybridge for an Electrical Contractor - Mactric Electric Ltd, owned by James Mcaneny (now passed away, last year).
Mactric Electrics worked for main contractor H J Knights Shopfitters, who were at that time based in the Archway. They later moved to Brewery Road off the Caledonian Road and then to North Road again off the Caledonian Road, works mainly shopfitting and some large upmarket houses, This firm has also gone. Jim Knight who owned Shopfitters died in a car crash a few years ago; he had been retired long time.
I used to travel all over UK working in shop fitting.
I am now semi retired, have run my own Electrical contractors since 1971 - RGM Electrics.
Kenwood was redecorated and modified with a new Kitchen area which was dug out to make split level. I remember Paul McCartney who had stayed over night said to me, (came in here drunk last night and fell down that F------ hole) e.g. Kitchen area, Paul mixed with us like one of the lads, better than John, although John got on with one of the labourers and I believe he worked for John after we all had finished.
In this kitchen area in the wall was and old safe built into wall no key we had to break it open there was nothing in it silly things you remember!
John, Cynthia & Julian Lennon lived in flat above house whilst we worked on main house, John came and went e.g. tours ect he kept his self fairly private from us only on occasions would he be seen, there was a chauffer on call with hired Red Rolls Royce to ferry John & Cynthia about chauffer was always there 24hrs I cannot remember where he slept, but Rolls was useful for going to the café in village to get bacon rolls etc I use to go down in the back of the Rolls occasionally for errands.
I also remember Johns new Rolls Royce being delivered to house in 1965 on that day I was the one of the first persons to sit in the back of the Car it was black originally with thick black carpets this was the car that John had re-painted psycadelic at a later time
We completely Re-wired house to a high standard for those days I daresay it has been re-wired again.
I had to go into flat due to wiring for floor below so met up with Cynthia & Julian quite a lot, Julian at the time was crawling and I remember Cynthia wanting to go to the shops in the village so asked me to look after Julian whilst I was in the flat I played with him etc. this happed a couple of times. Baby sitting as well as Electrician!
I got on quite well with Cynthia she was a lovely Lady still is I should imagine.
Whilst up in the flat another time I could hear John & Paul playing music they were composing songs - what ones I do not know! They did not seem to mind me being there.
The carpet was laid through out the house and caused so much static at first we thought something was wrong with electrics till I put neon tester on the door Knocker and neon light up we then realised it was carpet, you charged up with static as you walked in those days was unknown Carpet was sprayed with anti static, strange I can remember pulling out main fuses as we thought something was wrong, also neon tester type screwdrivers were relatively new then.


At lunch & tea breaks we had a card school going and about 6 to 10 use to play 3 Card Brag some high pots were on the table, I remember John came down to watch us playing occasionally, I was also pretty lucky at cards too.
There was a few fans came to the house to see John we use to give them bits of old rubble floorboards etc as souvenirs but never took anything for myself, I was actually a Rolling Stones fan and into soul and
Tamla Motown and was out clubbing most nights as you did in the 60s and I was spaced out most of the time etc etc.
When it was cold use to take Fans in to the boiler room for a warm up!
I remember the Foreman carpenter who ran the job his name Len Murphy use to pick me up in the mornings near Mornington Crescent near Camden Town and then travelled to Kenwood in his car an Austin 1100 the car would be full with other workers we all shared expenses Len made a profit.
Because Weybridge was classed as a away job we got £1.00 a day expenses e.g. money for digs and because we worked 6days a week e.g. Saturday as well we got £7.00 a week tax free in those days as Iwas only earning about £6-7 a week it double my wages I was well off in those days only had to give Len half a crown for travel a day?
Most of the workers would have passed away by now I was the youngest working there at the time there was a plumber’s mate about year older than me named Sam?
There must be other workers out there somewhere.
There was a plasterer who was good with all the plaster mouldings etc he use to shoot Squirrels in the garden with an air rifle, he use to cut off tails and get 6 or 3 pence off the Council for them."

Many thanks to Roger for this (and there may even still be a few bits o' that very carpet for sale: see previous post).