Freddie Lennon stayed at Kenwood for a time in late 1967, before deciding that he'd be better off somewhere a bit less isolated. To this end, a ground floor flat was found for him in nearby Kew, at 79 Mortlake Road (above). John came here at least once, after Fred had happened upon Cynthia in a local club and drunkenly admonished her. Cue cussing, as John hammered on the door here and allegedly advised Alf that, "If you can't keep your bloody mouth shut, the feud between us will be on again and we'll see what Fleet Street makes of that."
Now, those who feel, with some reason, that the flagrantly trivial is taken to self-parodic depths round these parts may wish to avert their eyes at this point, but amongst Dot Jarlett's clippings was a folder of related ephemera; for example, a luggage tag with the word "Beatles" scrawled on it, a postcard of Hoylake, some fan-related stuff from Japan, and then several items that are less obviously connected, including the following sheet from esteemed local bakers o' cake Cook & Butler, headed Christmas 1967:
The aforementioned Yule was unique in being the only Chrimble that John, as an adult, spent with his father. Fred joined the celebrations at Kenwood, and, though pure conjecture on my part, I bet that Dot was asked to look after Christmas dinner and get the cake in, and thus kept this sheet as a memento:
Edible nonsense. My thanks to Mr Mark Lewisohn for the Kew pic, and for sleuthing the address.
