Kenwood: December, 1968.

A selection of shots from the final days at Kenwood. The first from the driveway, the second one from the sunroom, and the last from the drawing room again - this time showing Yoko's Half A Wind exhibits either being dismantled or..errr...mantled.

Shea Stadium: NYC, 1965.

There's an obvious reason why almost all the candid shots of John at Kenwood on here are from 1967 and 1968. And probably the peak moment of all that was Shea Stadium in 1965. The official film is great, obviously, but an equally good adjunct is the recently "released" bootleg film which has the original soundboard recording matched up to any and all available film. The Beatles had gone in and overdubbed sections of the official concert documentary, but this new one is how it actually sounded. Whilst certainly a warts and all type of deal, there is a visceral excitement to the music that is slightly lacking in the official film - great though it is. Anyway, the naughty amongst you will already know this. Here are some comps which give an idea of the hugeness of it all. The third one is a time-lapse shot of John and Paul running on. Incidentally, I was going to visit Shea when in NYC and get some pics. But they demolished it. (Shea, not NYC).

King's Road etc: "Swinging" London.

Of tangential interest, but the Beatles were as enthusiastic clothes horses as anyone in the times when London swung "like a pendulum do". Where did they get all that gear? People such as Dougie Millings and the Fool designed bespoke clothing to order, but all four also regularly shopped in the boutiques of Chelsea and elsewhere. The YouTube clip here has contemporary film of Granny Takes A Trip (where all four were customers), Hung On You (where Ringo purchased the pyjama style suit shown above) and the Antique Market where Jenny Boyd had a stall, visited on at least one occasion by les Fabs in 1968. There is other stuff too, and it's a safe bet that at least one or other of them would have been familiar with everything in this film.

Kenwood: driveway, June 1967.

Someone requested this odd photo of John playing road-kill beneath his Rolls Royce in the drive at Kenwood. So here it is, together with 3 more taken at the same time.

Sunny Heights: summer, 1967.

One of the upstairs rooms at Sunny Heights.

Sunroom: in colour, June 1967.

A lot of the Beatles Book photos from Kenwood, Sunny Heights and Kinfauns have colour versions which turn up from time to time. Here's the sunroom, in semi-glorious colour - I wonder what else is locked in a drawer somewhere? Still, very interesting to see it in this form.

Kenwood: driveway, 1967.

Two of John posing in the drive at Kenwood circa mid-late '67, plus what appears to be Ringo admiring the newly psychedelicised Roller in the same location. It was the drummer who suggested that John get the distinctive paintwork applied to the car during a visit whilst John was filming How I Won The War in Almeria, Spain. The car had been painted black, but the Spanish terrain had not been kind to it. When John mentioned that he was going to have to get it redone back in Britain, Ringo suggested getting something distinctive, instead of a boring monotone. John, as was his wont, took the idea to extremes. The last pic is, inevitably (where would I be without it?), from Joe Baiardi's video - the drive in 2008.

Sunroom: variants, June 1967.

The most famous sunroom pics turn up with slight variations from time to time, including in colour. Here are 3 variations, and a couple of comps to give the widest perspective.

Hyde Park: 1967 & 2009.

The Beatles, out for a stroll by the Serpentine in Hyde Park on May 18, 1967, and gearing up for the release of Sgt Pepper. The place looks much the same today - except that a wooden carbuncle has appeared, curiously enough, adjacent to the exact spot where the Beatles were photographed, thus obscuring the view. (A tip of the hat once again at this point to Piet Schreuders, Adam Smith and Mark Lewisohns' Beatles' London book. Infinitely more entertaining than the A to Z). (Also, it's a bit of a long shot (and sentence), but if the guy who used to advertise Beatles' videos in the Beatles Book monthly during the 1980s under the name KB Productions should ever happen to read this...please get in touch via the email address in the header).

Kenwood: more step, 1965.

Another great Whitaker shot of John sitting near the bottom of the garden steps. You can see the same position, though from different angles, in Joe's video - one small piece of Kenwood unchanged.

Drawing Room: more film footage, December 1968.

..and here it is! Over four minutes of film from the drawing room at Kenwood with original soundtrack. Yoko talks about art, John plays his guitar. The Variety Club painting gets yet another look in. Filmed by Austrian TV company ORF on December 15, 1968 and one has to wonder what else they filmed that day.

Drawing Room: film footage, December 1968.

For Kenwood obsessives like me, this is pretty exciting - the first, and probably only, professional filmed footage from inside Kenwood itself in the Lennon era! I had seen this film several times (I'll embed the film at the end of this post), but most commentators had it pegged as being from inside Sunny Heights when John and Yoko were staying there following the bust at Montagu Square. Not having any evidence to the contrary I went along with that. However, a reference at the You Are The Plastic Ono Band site made me go back and examine it again more closely...and I suddenly realised that, in fact, this is film from the drawing room (ie the room used as the main formal living room) at Kenwood, NOT Sunny Heights! (Bear with me on this). Examine the pics and screengrabs above. Note first the long white radiator(?) grille beneath John and Yoko's seat, and the general look of the window. Compare with the pic of John and George taken 3 years previously - the grille is there and it is clearly the same room. Now take note of the wooden flooring in the John and Yoko pic. Finally the pic of John and Cyn - the same room, and the fireplace faces the window. (See two old posts HERE and HERE for more exposition/evidence on this). Now compare the screengrabs from the film with the first three pics above...you can find all the features present and correct. Lastly, in the John and Yoko pic you can see some of her artwork from the Half A Wind show. Again, there it all is in the film!Finally a comp from Joe Baiardi's Kenwood footage showing that the wood panelling in that room is still there today. So there we have it! Here is the film, and I'm off to bed. (I just also realised I have the original Austrian TV show which this footage comes from, which will have more footage in it! I will try and get it on here soon).

Variety Club Christmas Card: right way round.

A small thing, perhaps. Looking at the previous post, I realised, assuming John placed it the way it was meant to be on the piano, that it had been printed upside down in the examples I have seen up to now. So here it is as Johnny intended.

Tittenhurst Park: December, 1969 etc.

In December 1969 John was filmed, simultaneously, for two documentaries - 24 Hours and Man Of The Decade, both of which have footage of Tittenhurst. The second pic here shows John on the phone in the bedroom there. Our old friend the Variety Club Christmas card painting, from 1967, is now propped up on the piano to the left of his bed. This gives a clearer idea of its size, and seems to be more evidence that it could well be what he was working on in the various shots taken on or about August 9, 1967 outside the sunroom at Kenwood.