The venerable Meet The Etc. recently posted some rather good new Hyde Park pics, so I thought I'd go for a stroll and see what other Then Unt Nows might be found. Firstly, the above pic. Some reasonable doubts have been raised as to whether John's Roller was at the '67 Hyde Park session, but the location certainly seems to match the pic on the right, "done" today. If so, they parked up near Hyde Park Corner, on the mix of sand and horse-shit between Rotten Row and South Carriage Drive.
They'd then have walked round to the eastern end (absolutely riveting stuff) of Serpentine Road, and headed along toward the Serpentine itself.
This pic would seem to have been taken near the Cavalry Statue; the shape of the paths is the only one that fits, though there have clearly been changes in the ensuing half century:
After a spot of tea (covered elsewhere here), they were pictured on a bench or two. The new photo on MTB finally gives the exact location - note the 4 trees in the background, looking almost exactly the same still:
There's no bench on the spot now, but the same ones, presumably refurbished a bit, are still there dotted around the edge of the lake. I'm going to need a hand etc.:
And this:
Finally (thank feck), the Beatles, o' course, had form when it came to Hyde Park pics; apparently, according to tome o' tomes the Beatles' London, this is the very spot where Beatles For Sale was, errr, also "done":
this just makes me wish i was in london right now, walking around those places... as always, thank you for your superb research!
ReplyDeleteFascinating post - I do not need to know which bench it was (repeat to self ten times 'I do not need to know which bench, I do not....)
ReplyDeleteHow secured are those benches to the ground, and which size nut is used? Thank you.
DeleteHave you run out of red arrows? I see a great then-and-now book looming, my favorite so far is the acid attic vs stuffed teddy bear from 5/11/11. A real tickler.
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