More Lizzie soon... but in the meantime...
Regulah readahs will no doubt be familiah with the above; it's been on here before, albeit in nasty lo-res. Always having found it a fascinating little slice of Kenwoodalia, I've been keeping an eye out for a better example.
And lo, and, moreover, behold - here one is. Prised from the pages of the German mag Bravo, edition number 5, dated 23 January 1967, it allows one to scan the images in the kind of hi-res that causes yer laptop to issue a Hal 9000 type warning about the wisdom of so doing. (Click on 'em for the bigger picture.)
So when were they actually taken? Clearly the beginning of autumn - one of these trees suggests the rise of the fall (if you will, and I wouldn't, if I were you):
Either 1965 or 1966 then, with the probability being the latter (though I'd like to hear from any readahs who may have seen this pic in, say, a US mag of the time in order to nail a definitive date).
Right, let's res this to the... err... highest.
Even in the lo-res version, it was possible to discern a figure in the grounds. The image in the mag reveals something else there, and zooming in shows it to be none other than... Julian!:
Actually, I can't be sure it's Julian, but it's probably him, looking up to see what the noise is (these pics having no doubt been taken from a helicopter):
Next, the sunroom, and lookee here: it isn't finished! (Not sure if that warrants an exclamation mark, but in the context of all this nonsense, it might as well...errr...do. But I digress.)
The roof isn't quite complete, and the distinctive decoration has yet to be added:
Zooming in once again, 3 people can be seen. The figure in white is seated in the sunroom talking to a second individual, and in the upstairs spare bedroom, someone is looking out the window, again trying to see what all the noise is:
Readahs can download the pics above and find for "themselfs" more details that I am, sadly, too lazy to go into here.
More to come on the other Beatle pads.
very nice! i vaguely remember having that magazine... i'm sorry i can't help much with the date.
ReplyDeleteHi Sean - looking at an earlier entry by yourself I can see that according to Gerry Taylor the sunroom was commissioned towards the end of 1964 and comepleted in Feb 65. The work been done by Gery`s dad and his apprentice. As the ladder seems to be in use I`m wondering whether the person in white is Gerry`s dad in white overlalls and the other the apprentice.
ReplyDeletePossibly late 1964 ?
Hi Jonathan. That's certainly possible.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I suggested 1966 was that if these photos were available in late 1964, they would surely have been used then, particularly as ver Fabs were probably at their "hottest" at that point. Why would a magazine wait over 2 years to publish them?
The other thing that makes me suspect a later date is that, apart from the sunroom, everything looks very "finished". It's clearly not winter - look at the trees. So if it's 1964, it must be late summer/early autumn. Remember the sunroom, garage, swimming pool and landscaped grounds were all built/instigated by John. Would that date give enough time for all of the above to have been completed? I dunno! But maybe.
I'm certain these photos first appeared in a US magazine; maybe when that turns up, the date will become clear...