Kenwood: interview - April, 1965.

This most "innaresting" interview provides a verbatim slice of life at Kenwood in April '65 (or thereabouts). You can read it for "youselfs", but a few points to note: 1. Large (and doubtless good) dog Nigel, previously unknown, and now immediately to return to canine obscurity from whence he skittered. 2. Blues Rags & Hollers (as it is actually titled) was an album by Koerner, Ray & Glover, much admired by the Lenin-cap wearing brigade. 3. Bernard Levin called the then Tory Leader Sir Alec Douglas-Home a "cretin" and an "imbecile" on Not So Much A Programme More A Way Of Life, which was the follow-up to That Was The Week That Was. 4. John seems somewhat agitated (one can guess why - last man standing at the Ad-Lib yet again); Cynthia seems somewhat appalled, even given that it was very much pre-PC. 5. I can say no more.
Many thanks to Richard Morton Jack for passing this on.

Kenwood: summer, 1967 - part 2, interview.

Here, as promised, is Swedish schoolboy (that's him in the above pics) Richard Mühlrad's interview with John, at Kenwood, in the summer of 1967. John's answers were apparently captured on a tape recorder (manned by Richard), and then transcribed and translated into Swedish. As far as I am aware, this is the first time the interview has appeared in English. (It should probably also be noted that this is a re-translation out of Swedish and back into English; luckily, most of the language is simple enough, and it is likely, therefore, to be a pretty accurate representation.) No revelations, or anything, but another little slice of time and place, all the same:

RM: Are you tired of pop music?
JL: No, why do you ask?

RM: Well, the Beatles have changed their style.
JL: It's still pop music.

RM: What will you do when you quit playing music?
JL: I don't know. Many people have asked me that question. I guess I'll just stop playing.

RM: What are the Beatles doing this autumn and winter?
JL: We're making a new film.

RM: Will you be travelling abroad?
JL: We haven't decided yet.

RM: Is it fun or tiresome being idolized?
JL: It's both fun and tiresome.

RM: Are the Beatles coming to Sweden this or next year?
JL: I don't think so. We've stopped touring. We might come as tourists on holiday.

RM: For how long will the Beatles keep on playing?
JL: I don't know, hopefully forever.

RM: But the papers keep writing that you're breaking up.
JL: You should never believe what the big papers say.

RM: Do you like the Monkees?
JL: Yes, in fact I met them last night. (John is referring to a big party at the Beatles favourite club which pop stars like the Rolling Stones, Monkees, Jimi Hendrix and others attended.)

RM: When will the new film be finished?
JL: November.

RM: When is the next album due?
JL: Soon I think. We have been writing and recording new songs continuously after finishing Sgt Pepper, so a new album should probably be out by September.

RM: Do you think you will release more records in 1968 compared to 1967?
JL: Oh, I really don't know you know. Everybody asks us about that.

RM: Do you like opera?
JL: No I think it's horrible! The music is alright, it's the singers I can't stand listening to.

RM: Have the Beatles managed to travel abroad much without the press finding out about it?
JL: Sometimes. They always know when any of us travel somewhere, but they don't always know where to.

RM: Do you think pop will last another five years, and if so, do you see yourselves topping the charts at that time?
JL: Yes, we hope so. Pop music will only become better and more like fine art over the next five years.

RM: Do you still enjoy playing before big crowds?
JL: No. It's too tiring.

RM: Is that why you stopped touring, unlike the Monkees who carry on?
JL: Well, we've already done that. What the Monkees are doing now is what we did for five years. You can't just repeat yourself over and over. We can't stand on stage and sing "She Loves You" anymore, that would just bore us. If we were to tour again we would need a full orchestra, and then no-one would listen.

RM: Do you prefer short or long hair?
JL: Well it's short at the moment, but I prefer long hair.

RM: Do you think having short hair has lost you any fans?
JL: I don't know.

And neither do I. Many thanks again go to Bruno for unearthing the Swedish fan mag from whence it came, and to Lonedrone for the re-translation.

Kenwood: NME interview - November 28, 1964.

Secrets of the House of Lennon, apparently. This interesting document constitutes the first substantial bit of Kenwood related press; the interview was conducted there on Saturday November 28, 1964, and published a week later in the NME. (As usual, click on it and zoom in for a readable view.)
So, what "secrets" does it actually contain? From the vantage point of now, not a lot, although we do learn that one of John's cats was a gift from George, and that there was no gate on the property at the time of the interview. (According to a couple of people with close connections to the house circa '80s/'90s, the heavy wooden gate that John eventually installed, familiar from Reporting '66, was eventually removed, and sat discarded by the main entrance for years. Its ultimate fate is unknown, although probably landfill.)
This was pre-sunroom, too, so the mention of going through the kitchen would have either led them out the other side of the house, or through the dining room.
What else? The location of Julian's room is narrowed down a bit; it must have been either bedroom no. 3 or bedroom no. 4 on the Partridge plan - probably no. 4, as previously suspected. The Blue Room may well have been bedroom no.2:


The journalist also recorded an interview with John about Kenwood, for BBC radio's The Teen Scene - thus far unbootlegged, and therefore presumably lost. Still, all interesting stuff, and many thanks to Eric Nernie for sending it in.

In other "news", a close relative of manufacturer Kenneth Wood has been in touch: He's checked, and the story about Mr Wood owning and re-naming the property turns out not to be true after all. So, it remains a mystery as to 'oodunit and why...but possibly a tip of the hat to Kenwood House in Hampstead. Or not.
(A pity, though - this would have been the best chance of obtaining some pre-Lennon images of the place.)

Cynthia Lennon: interview (& John's response).

An interview from the mid-1970s (click on it for a readable view), covering the Kenwood years. What's of most interest, however, is that not only did John happen to read this article, but he also wrote a riposte to Cynthia (which can be found in Keith Badman's book, Beatles After The Breakup):
"Dear Cynthia,
As you and I well know, our marriage was long over before the advent of LSD or Yoko Ono, and that's the reality! Your memory is impaired, to say the least. Your version of our first LSD trip is rather vague. And you seem to have forgotten subsequent trips altogether. You also seem to have forgotten that, only two years ago, while I was separated from Yoko Ono, you suddenly brought Julian to see me after three years of silence. During this visit, you didn't allow me to be alone with him for one moment. You even asked me to remarry you and or give you another child for Julian's sake. I politely told you no, and that anyway I was still in love with Yoko (which I thought was very down to earth). There were no detectives sent to Italy. Our mutual friend Alex Mardas went to Bassanini's hotel to see how you were, as you said you were too ill to come home. Finally, I don't blame you for wanting to get away from your Beatles past, but if you are serious about it, you should try to avoid talking to and posing for magazines and newspapers. We did have some good years, so dwell on them for a change, and as Dylan says, it was "a simple twist of fate."
Love and good luck to you from the three of us,
John."
Of course, it's impossible not to feel some sympathy for Cynthia. But it's also interesting to see John get a right of reply, and challenge one or two of her oft-repeated gripes. Quite a good little pun there at the end, too.