Kenwood: bush - then unt now.

Did I mention that I have been to etc.?
One of the 3 areas I was most interested in seeing was bush related - specifically an attempt to clear up the "silly bother" about where the Rubber Soul cover photo was taken.
There are 2 possibles, one being the top of the drive at Kenwood. So, here's a screencap from my phone of the very spot.
It is clearly here. If you spend several hours comparing, you start to see that Paul is in fact undead.
Seriously, though - this is it. I was there in late winter. The Rubber Soul photo would have been taken in late autumn. Or fall.
Eternal thanks to Peter Rubin. And hello Lumby.

Kenwood: garden, ca. March/April 1967.

Wot a splendid pic. Just yer average psychedelic family, friend unt felines out for a stroll on a spring afternoon. I'd guess this was taken around the time of the Pepper photo shoot (30th March, 1967), judging by the trousers. (We all know it was the trousers.)

The usual season's gratings to readahs, and, in this instance, a special grating to Mr R.

Kenwood: December, 1968.

Master bedroom, Kenwood.

36 years.

V&A: Psychedelic Eye On Display.

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has a major new exhibition in the works: "You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-70" runs from 10 September-26 February 2017 and will, as one might expect, feature the Fabs; both John and George's Sgt Pepper outfits will be on display, amongst other things.

Now, excitingly for those with an interest in Kenwood, I have it on good authority that one of those other things will be John's Eye mosaic from the pool, which was recently rediscovered, returned to its rightful owners, and restored to former glory.

Apparently the thing measures about 5 feet by 15 feet, consists of around 14,000 tiles, and is quite impressive in the flesh. Lovely stuff, and more details to follow, apparently...

Thanks to Bernie Cochrane.

Kenwood: On film, June 1968.

Some of this is on the blog already - but the real find comes around half-way through: the kitchen at Kenwood, on film! Yoko prepares something macrobiotic whilst John hugs a feline. For the first time it's possible to see how the kitchen and the sunroom join up. Please, for the love of God, try to contain yourselves.

This comes courtesy of Revolver TV over on YouTube, who have been gradually doling out interesting, unseen bits and pieces for a while now, and one wonders if the long rumoured Kenwood home movies are going to appear soon. In the meantime, this is pretty, pretty good.

EDIT: There used to be a YouTube video above. Clearly, it has now been taken down. I managed to MP4 it, though, so good for me!

Kenwood: June, 1967.

Yet more out-takes from the 29th of June 1967 session at Kenwood, and these two will be up for grabs at the Tracks auction in April. Nice!
In other news, I note that the page hit count round these parts is now over a million. I do nothing to publicise things, update randomly and infrequently, and am not the most technologically savvy person in the world, so it's quite possible that anyone with, say, a new Twitter account can expect a million hits by lunchtime on the first day, but still, a million hits! For this nonsense! It blows my tiny brains out of my nose.
So, may I just proffer a thank you to everyone who has contributed in whatever way, and to you readahs in general? And now be about yer business:

Kenwood: November 26th, 1968.

Sara over at MTBFR has posted a great (mainly "new") set of Kenwood pics. No point in me posting them all again here, but a couple of them can be used to further our flagrantly trivial ends. The above has been on before, but not in this resolution. Thus, note - Westinghouse Continental oven and Zal disinfectant:

What's that tome on the table?

Why, none other than Small Man of Nanataki by Liam Nolan:

Interesting this. The book was first published in 1966, and tells the story of a Japanese POW camp interpreter who helps the prisoners out of a sense of shared humanity. In 1960s Britain, there remained a lot of throwback WW2 anti-Japanese prejudice, and Small Man of Nanataki was, apparently, an attempt to counteract this. Can't "imagine" (oh fer Jah's sake stop it) what it would have been doing at Kenwood.
To see all the pics, go HERE.
(I can't remember where I got the oven pic - if you took it please get in touch for a credit.)

Kenwood: summer, 1967.

These have been on here before, in sub-standard quality. Here they are again, much bigger unt better...

Thanks to Joe Baiardi.

Kenwood, Kinfauns & Sunny Heights: summer, 1967.

Way back in the summer o' '67, had you made your way to St George's Hill and utilised the naughty knocker at Kenwood, this might have been what shambled forth as a result - a fabulously dishevelled John, resplendent in dressing gown, talisman and norralot else.

A colour shot of the caravan from around the same time:

George outside Kinfauns, engaged in 'graphs:

Mr Starkey at the front door of dear old Sunny Heights, likewise:

I've stitched the following further Sunny ones together (each is a composite of 2 separate photos, fact fans) to provide a wider perspective. The upper floor here was home to the Den, where the Fabs did frequently hang:

No idea who took the black and white ones, but should you ever happen to read this then please do get in touch for a credit - I'd like to hear the story behind them. Thanks also to Joe Baiardi for passing on the colour caravan shot.

Kenwood: "mad, mad pad."

I've been after this for a long time, so was pleased to find it amongst Dot Jarlett's clippings; from the Evening News, March 1969, a guided tour of Kenwood, then being used as little more than storage by John and Yoko:

Note the last Kenwood sighting of the Fool piano, which has for some reason migrated to the "library":

These have all been scanned hi-res, so download and zoom in to read.

Kenwood: July, 1964.

I recently acquired Dot Jarlett's clippings archive, for the princely sum of 50 quid. Lots of innaresting bits and, moreover, bobs. The earlier ones were apparently cut out by John himself... and here is the very earliest, providing shurely the first press mention of Kenwood, from the Daily Herald, Wednesday July 15th 1964.
This picture, then, taken before the Lennons took up residence - and one wonders what they were doing giving interviews about the place when it was supposed to be a big secret.
Download and zoom in to read.

Kenwood: Cyn.

Via Truth About The Beatles Girls.

Kenwood: ca. February 1967.

Dot Jarlett's archive is up for auction, and amongst other examples of Kenwoodalia are these; "innaresting" because they show a small slice of vérité from what I'd guess is the early part of 1967. Have a look at the pic above, for example. That at least appears to be Cyn and a fully tached-up John peering down from the sunroom:

Another one of Julian messing about by the pool, but again there seems to be someone in a chair in the sunroom, gazing out over the grounds:

Note feline on the left:

A little seen corner of the pool. Note the door in the wall on the left, and the collection of junk under the garage:

To wit:

There are also a number of photos showing a visit to a local park by Cynthia, Julian and another couple of people, who look to me like John's aunt Mater, and his cousin Stan:

I could well be completely wrong about that, but once again have a look at the sunroom in this one:

Mater chatting to Cyn as John sits looking out the window?:

Palpable nonsense. Finally, a shot of the interior sunroom. No Monterey poster yet, o' course, as the titular festival had yet to happen, but most of the other familiar elements in place:

Ahh, sweet flagrant trivia.

Kenwood: summer, 1967.

Sara over at MTBFR has turned up this photo of John, George and Julian, outside the front door at Kenwood in the summer o' lovin'. Compare with Lizzie Bravo's shot of the garage. There's also a glimpse of the old Tarrant garage on the right of the new pic. Lovely, as Partridge would have it, stuff.

Kenwood: John's home movies.

Apparently, there is just over half an hour of John's 8mm home movies in the Lenono archive from 1967 alone - and around 16 minutes of these are specifically labelled "Weybridge". Andrew Solt's "John Lennon:Imagine" documentary from 1988 utilised a few seconds, to good effect, though one can't help but wonder what else there is.
A rough cut of the above (JL:I) circulates in fairly abysmal quality, but does include a bit more - to wit, above: Lennons Snr/Jnr enjoying interaction with livestock, presumably not on St George's Hill, and below: John engaged in more filming, very likely in the garden at Kenwood, plus furry friend:

Why not get a documentarian in to make something of all this, eh? Answers on a balloon...

Kenwood: January, 1995 video footage.

To recap: Andrew Hawkins (plus all important buddy, pal and mate) visited Kenwood at the beginning of 1995, just as the first major renovation (ie demolition) since the Lennon-era was getting underway.
Here is the footage shot that day, together with the usual inserts.
Bear in mind that, whilst the place is a building site, the layout is precisely as it was back in the 1964-68 era. To all intents and purposes, this is the house as John would have known it.
Many thanks once again to Andrew for allowing me to post this here (and for paying to having the video transferred to a digital format). If you see him, buy him a pint.

Kenwood: January 1995.

In January 1995, Andrew Hawkins, finding the gates at Kenwood open, took the decision to chance his luck and headed up to the house to see if he might be allowed to film the exterior. Lucky, really, because what he discovered was a building site, overseen by an amenable Irish foreman who agreed to give Andrew and his friend the grand tour. Thus, Andy's camera recorded the last gasp of the house as John would have known it - shortly thereafter the kitchen, sunroom and garage were demolished and rebuilt, and the first floor master bedroom and attic were gutted and reconstructed.
I will try and put the footage on the blog over Christmas, but in the meantime here, with a minimum of verbiage from me, are some screencaps and a bit of context.

ENTRANCE HALL - The doorway visible here led to the kitchen. Note too the large mirror, still in place:

KITCHEN - Split level, an upper "breakfast terrace" and lower cooking area:

Note the floor tiles, some of which were still evident:

LIVING ROOM - Note the ceiling:

DEN - Colour scheme still in place, 25 years later:

Back to the entrance hall, this time facing the main stairs to the upper levels:

MASTER BEDROOM:

EN-SUITE BATHROOM:

ATTIC: Again, compare the photo of John with the situation in January 1995; clearly the same:

ATTIC LIVING ROOM - Next to the studio room, John pictured here above. This room was where Pete Shotton recalled helping with the general concept for Eleanor Rigby:

ATTIC BEDROOM - Home at various times to Fred Lennon, Pauline Lennon, and even John and Cyn whilst renovation was going on in 1964:

ATTIC TANK ROOM - Home to John's semi-feral cats:

ATTIC CORRIDOR - A glimpse of the studio room at the far end:

SUNROOM EXTERIOR - I'm still not sure if this is a completely different structure, or simply the old sunroom with a new roof and fireplace installed:

SUNROOM INTERIOR:

POOLSIDE STEPS:

GARAGE 1:

GARAGE 2:

And there we have it, for nau. As mentioned, at some point before long the footage itself will appear here.
Finally, I'd like to express my thanks to Andy for his generosity in allowing me to use his film. Cheers, mate!