Wednesday, 16 June 2010

From Emperor's Gate to Weybridge: ca. July, 1964.


These pics show John and Cyn (and Paul) outside Emperor's Gate, purportedly on the very day that the Lennons moved from there to Kenwood. That's the story, anyway - and the photos must date from around that time, at least. If so, it seems an acoustic guitar was the last man out.


John only occupied the 4th floor flat at Emperor's Gate for around 9 months, under the name "Hadley" (a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to put the "kids" off his trail). Kenwood was the third house on St George's Hill that the Hadleys viewed (I wonder what the other two were), and must have initially seemed so secluded as to be unfindable by Ver Fanz. Oh dear.


UPDATE: The eagle-eyed db noted in comments that these pics were posted back to front - so they have now been corrected. It's unclear if the car interior shots above were also the wrong way round, but I've assumed they were, and done them too. Thus, a "then and now" shot becomes possible (I couldn't see it before, for obvious reasons (related to my idiocy)); John's block has been demolished, and replaced by office buildings:

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures.Thanks for sharing. John clearly LOVED that jacket. Evidently it survived the US tour of '64 and the Help! shoot (see the rear cover of the US album) Wonder where it is now?
    Simon Wells

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  2. Resembling Brian Wilson a bit in those middle pics. Lovely, never seen these before. Fanks for sharing wiv us fanz as eva :-)

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  3. I reckon these photos are back to front! Unless John could do like Dylan and sign autographs with both hands.

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  4. DOH! Well spotted...I'll correct them ,and re-post.

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  5. There's a hint of a (right-sided) driver in the 2nd interior shot, so I think you did right to flip them too. (It was the way he had his hair parted that alerted me btw.) Cheerio!

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  6. Thanks - I always wondered if Paul visited John at Emperor's Gate.

    The Emperor name suits John - and I wonder if it stuck in Paul's subconscious as when he tripped with John a couple of years later at his St John's Wood later he envisioned John qs "the absolute emperor of everything" .

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