J. W. Lennon, Esq., M.B.E., Kenwood, Wood Lane, Cavendish Road, St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Kenwood: Kenny Everett, acid & errr...golf.
From "The Custard Stops At Hatfield", the autobiography of Kenny Everett:
"I once took an acid trip with John Lennon on the Weybridge golf course, of all places. John and his sort of court jester friend Terry Doran had just come out of a club called the Speakeasy in London...and the next day John asked me if I wanted some LSD. I thought, 'Yes, John. Anything you say John. Tell me to turn into a picked gherkin and I'll do it.' So we popped this stuff in our mouths and ten minutes later I was wondering exactly what I was and where I was and why I was and was I why and who where was... John said 'Let's go for a walk,' and I remember it was raining very gently - the sort of upper class fine rain you could only find in posh places like Weybridge. It was very quiet and the air smelled of pine trees as we wafted along, dressed in psychedelic cloaks. We walked on to the golf course and suddenly a helicopter landed. I've no idea why and it's just the sort of surreal thing you'd imagine when you are tripping, but it definitely happened. Or was it a bird? I had no idea what was happening to my brain as the chemical worked its way around my untutored particles. It's impossible to describe a trip, but it's a bit like 2001 on toast and for a while you believe you've discovered the secret of life and the meaning of the universe. A few hours later, when the chemical has used up ten billion of your brain cells, it deposits you back at square one and leaves you simply bewildered. You can't remember anything about the secrets you've supposedly been taught while tripping because the experience is so far removed from anything your real brain can handle. It would be rather like someone from the twentieth century wandering up to a caveman and saying, ‘Hi, there are some great things coming, you know, like colour television and the microwave oven and the wheel - the wheel's a round thing with spokes and it will help you get to places and make machines function.' The modern-day man would then disappear leaving the caveman scratching his head, 'Wheel? I remember it was a great idea, but I can't remember exactly what it was or how it worked.' LSD is extraordinary and interesting stuff, but not to be recommended. It was all just part of the times, and after the trip with John I experimented many times with the stuff over the years until I came to the conclusion that real life was actually just as jolly and much more interesting than any hallucination. A couple of months after my psychedelic round of golf with John I was in the Abbey Road recording studios where the Beatles were recording I Am The Walrus.... When he got to the line about getting a tan from standing in the English rain, he stopped and said to me: 'Reminds me of that day on the Weybridge golf course, eh Ken,' to which I replied: 'What'? 'You remember,' he said, 'the Weybridge golf course... the rain...get a tan from standing... oh, forget it.' I'm sure he thought I was a complete lemon... or was it a bird?" © Kenny Everett.
The pic of John has nothing whatsoever to do with Kenwood, 1967 or Kenny Everett, let alone golf or acid. But I don't care if you don't.
The Custard Stops At Hatfield is a good book, for anyone with an interest in UK radio, pirate radio, music scene etc in the 60s/70s.
ReplyDeleteWho could resist tripping with Dr Winston O'Boogie?