Kenwood: sunroom - doll chair.

As regulars will know, the sunroom at Kenwood, particularly during the high jinks of the latter Lennon-era, was a veritable smorgasbord of the abnormal and the atypical, the quaint and the queer, the uncommon and the unheard of, the fantastic and the, dare one say it, far out; much of it a reflection of John's pell-mell, fitfully effervescent personality - stare into the newfangled colour television, and the newfangled colour television also stares into you. Or something. I sometimes feel that John's drug use may have been somewhat exaggerated over the years (though it appears to be the one thing everyone agrees on), but there is little doubt that the sunroom, as constituted throughout the shiny summer of '67, resembled nothing so much as a cocoon for acid-heads. Odd illustrations, old photographs and caricatures festooned upon the walls, the psychedelic piano to the left, the sticker, poster and mystical detritus strewn cupboards to the right, a panoramic view through windows that were doors, over a garden that resembled a curious (and beautiful) park more than it did a garden in front - yes, this is probably one reason why the room is a source of such fascination to Kenwoodites. Every time you examine a picture of the place, a new detail presents itself. In this case, we have the odd little armchair evident in the photo of John being fitted for a jacket in June, 1967. You can see it to the left, under the Monterey poster. It's clearly not big enough for an adult. Doubtless meant for Julian, it was nevertheless occasionally occupied by a somewhat creepy clown doll - and both chair and doll can be seen in colour above. Many thanks to Lana Baker for sending this pic.