Montagu Square: September, 1968.

John during the Cott interview in September 1968, in the main room downstairs at 34 Montagu Square. A mountain of junk (or non-junk, as the case may be) has followed him and Yoko from Kenwood, including the Brennels from the attic studio:


The flat has been characterised as a tip by various people who had access during the period, with musical equipment, old newspapers, "knickers" (dirty or otherwise) strewn hither and, indeed, thither in every room; and so it would seem. Others recall that the temperature was overly hot, and the air always thick with Indian incense acquired in Rishikesh.
These days, it's a much more spartan affair:

34 Montagu Square: by day.

Readahs will no doubt remember the mystery of the "John's office mystery"; there are many great photos of John, Yoko and Robert Fraser hanging out in this heavily wood-panelled room, but no trace of such a place exists now at number 34.
Subsequent to my last visit, I managed to track down a plan of the flat from 1954 (which, for various reasons partly connected to sheer laziness on my part, cannot be reproduced here), and armed with same, I headed back the other day to see if this locale could at last be pinned down... of which more in a minute.
First, though, and at the risk of repeating myself, I couldn't resist getting a definitive "then & now" of our old pal(s) the Two Virgins shot(s). Done in daylight, the location is obvious, were it ever in any doubt. (Incidentally (if, sadly, not interestingly), the structure visible through the window was once the kitchen of the whole house, before it was split into flats.)
And another:


So to the old plan, which shows a partition wall in the downstairs kitchen which does seem to correspond to the wall in the office shots (see previous post). This whole area underwent massive renovation in the mid-90s, with a new shower built here (the walls of which can be seen in the "now" pic below).
Thus the best guess is that this was indeed the location of John's office (and note the apparently corresponding position of that door):


Though some doubt remains, that's probably it. Try not to worry too much in case it isn't.
Big thanks again to Peter for all his help.

Montagu Square: 34 by night.

Were you to take a shotgun, cock both hammers, invite it into my mouth and demand an answer to the hardy perrenial, "Choose one Beatles album, and one only. Which shall it be?", I'd be forced to answer "Plee tae i gu ou my mou. I canno enuniae wi a gu i my mou." And then I'd say, "the White Album".
34 Montagu Square was, of course, where John lived whilst contributing to the aforementioned opus, having opted out of Kenwood due to his new "thang" with Yoko. The walls therein witnessed an eventful few months, culminating in the drug bust of Rocktober '68 (of which more in a later post). And, for the third time, I managed to get in, on this occasion finally armed with a camera.
But enough o' my yakkin', where are the Then & Nows already?
Above, the recently unearthed shot of John returning to the flat in the early hours of a '68 morn, and the same location last night. Note the blue plaque. (And I'm going to need a hand getting that postbox into my boot.)(I know a running gag when I see one, db.)
Through the door and into the entrance hall:


The flat occupies two floors, ground and basement. The ground floor has two main rooms - on the left as you enter is the kitchen (as it is now):


Back in the day, the kitchen was downstairs. This room was a bedroom, and here is the very spot where the Two Virgins sleeve was shot:


The window is the same (though bars have been added on the outside) and the external view identical:


Oh look, they've even got the Times in it/on it/against it:


Above the "new" fitted cupboards (the flat was extensively renovated in the mid-90s), some original features remain:


In this corner, the titular bed once sat (and it was here that Pete Shotton decided he'd had enough of being John's "Piss Artist"):


Across the hall is a living room. As ye will no doubt know, before John and Yoko's tenure, Jimi Hendrix also resided here (with Ringo as landlord in both cases). Here they are, on either side of the fireplace (which, I reckon, still has its original surround, were one to strip off that white paint):


All that de-rigeur '60s wood long gone, though:


No pictures of John and Yoko in this room have surfaced thus far. It's quite possible that they didn't really use it, as it's the most exposed room in the flat, with windows opening on to the street.
Heading downstairs, there is another living room. Ringo and Maureen were pictured here in 1965, and John too in 1968 during his Rolling Stone interview with Jonathan Cott. The decor hadn't really changed in the intervening period; note those odd floor-shelves:


This room remains fairly close to its auld incarnation, the main differences being the fireplace, which has had a mantelpiece added, and the removal of the "shelving". But other elements are spottable:



The other main room downstairs used to be the kitchen. There are a few pics of Ringo and Maureen in here, but the best ones in terms of decor spotting feature our old friend Mr Jimi:


Again, the window endures, but nothing much else:


Over Jimi's shoulder, a door can be seen, and there's still one there now:


It leads to a small bathroom, and a mystery:


The question is where were these...:


...these...:


...and these taken?:


This room was John's "office", and it must (one would think) have been in the space now occupied by the above bathroom, and another bathroom on the other side of the wall:


Here's the other bathroom. The mirror wall divides the two, and a bit of wall tapping reveals that there was a door to the right of where the mirror now is:


But damned if I can see any relation between either (or both) rooms and the photos of John's office. I won't go into it at length at this juncture (you'll be relieved to hear), but the answer will no doubt appear if/when contemporary floor plans can be tracked down.
In the meantime, huge thanks to the flat's current owner Reynold D’Silva, and to top bloke Peter Compton for sorting out the shufti.

Montagu Square: August 1st, 1968.

"Oh look!" quoth Ringo, upon being shown the Two Virgins sleeve, "You've even got the Times on it!" (Did he say "on it" or "in it"? The former would be more appropriate in the above example. But I digress.) Indeed they did, with the Times Business News section evident on the floor on the sleeve, and errr...not on the floor in the out-take above.
The actual date of the "Twa" Virgins cover shoot is unknown, but it may well have been the very same day as this paper was published, namely Thursday August 1st, 1968.
Leafing through any newspaper from back then is interesting, but particularly so in this case: which stories would have caught John's eye? (There really, genuinely is no pun intended.)(And in any case John, apparently, would usually read every story in whatever paper was to hand. But anyway...)
Obviously this 'un:


And clearly this one too:


John, Paul, Dylan and Nilsson all lauded.
TV that evening was a fairly uninspiring selection across 3 (count 'em) channels, with Top Of The Pops at 7.30 probably being the highlight. "All Programmes in Colour" on BBC2, though. Which must have been nice.
Finally, the back page would almost certainly have been perused to see how Northern Songs was doing:


(And if anyone out there has a copy of the Day In The Life Daily Mail, do get in touch.)

Montagu Square: late summer, 1968.

A splendidly candid dead o' night shot of a slightly startled John, on the corner of Montagu Place and Montagu Square, no doubt freshly dropped off by Antony or Shotton post-White Album session. Yoko must be just out of frame behind him.
It's perhaps surprising that more photos of the pair of them outside number 34 haven't surfaced; but possibly no-one really knew they were there pre-bust, and post-bust, they weren't.
Thanks to Eric Nernie.

Montagu Square: a blue plaque (and a piss-up).

On Saturday I attended the unveiling of a blue plaque to John, by Yoko, at Montagu Square. How weird it must have been for her to be back there after all this time. I was fortunate enough to get in to have a shufti the day before; unfortunately pics were verboten, but fascinating it was, nevertheless, and very kind of the owner. The room where the Two Virgins sleeve was shot (formerly a bedroom) is now the kitchen - but still very recognisably the same place it all once did hang. I got to spend around 20 minutes there waiting to be shown round. An interesting experience.
Outside, the following day, Yoko and "Hunt lad" did the honours, the front of the place looking pretty much identical to the time in mid-late 1968 when Yoko was last there:


Honours being honoured, Yoko went off, and everyone else proceeded round the corner to a reception, where gallons of free booze flowed, and, to a long-term Beatles saddo like me, the assembled company proved to be... stimulating. I hate name droppingGeoffreyEllisMarkLewisohnLizzieBravoBarryMilesBillHarryRoyCarrHuntladTonyBramwellTheBootlegBeatlesso I shall refrain from mentioning them that supped, and, in certain cases, endured long and gibbering dialogue with yours truly. Suffice to say that the fruits of this gibberish may appear on these pages before too long.
It was also good to finally meet Lizzie Bravo, who was sporting both a proof-copy of her book (which looked incredible) and the badge that she wore when she sang on Across The Universe. This picture accurately reflects my vision at that point. John apparently larfed at the message. As, apparently, did I.


A splendid time was had by all, and you can't say better than that.

34 Montagu Square: 19 October, 1968.

The enthralling scene outside the internal entrance to the ground floor flat at Montagu Square, the day after Sgt Pilcher et al had so rudely interrupted the Ono-Lennons' morning reverie (with the Evening News probably placed there by a wily smudger from that very organ).
John and Yoko weren't in, having gone to ground at the London flat of their lawyer Nicholas Cowan in SW10.
Thanks to Eric Nernie for sending this pic.

34 Montagu Square: then & now.

34 Montagu Square; home, though possibly at different times, to Ringo & Maureen, Jimi Hendrix, Lil Powell, and John & Yoko. Sentimentalist has sent me some shots ca. 1965. In the following set of photos, you can see the ground floor living room in that year, and the same area in 2002:



These were taken in the basement, in a room opposite the kitchen:



The same area in 2002 HERE.
And some more shots taken in the kitchen, and upstairs:



There is a very interesting set of photos taken inside the flat in 2002, available HERE.
In particular, THIS one, as the room shown past the hall was the location of the Two Virgins sleeve photo.
Planning permission is currently being sought to affix a blue plaque to the exterior - with only John getting a mention. Many thanks to Sentimentalist, who runs the Little Willow & It's Only Love sites (links under Friends & Neighbours).

Montagu Square: 1968 & 2009.

Montagu Square, and environs, saw a lot of Beatle (and non-Beatle) related action in the 1960s. Ringo's flat at number 34 was home to Ringo himself, Cynthia's mother, Jimi Hendrix and John and Yoko, though not all at once - that would have been ridiculous. It was also used as a kind of demo studio by Paul, and William Burroughs made some spoken word recordings there too. The Fool, Alastair Taylor and Nel and Mal all lived on the Square at various points. Running parallel, directly behind number 34, is Bryanston Mews East. This was home to Mick Jagger for a while, and Mama Cass stayed in the same house - both of whom were visited there by John and Paul. As I've mentioned before, I visited 34 Montagu Square in the mid-80s and got a look round inside. On the ground floor there are 2 main rooms, and my guess would be that the Two Virgins photos were taken in the room on your left as you enter. You can see the back wall and roof of the building on Bryanston Mews East through the window on the TV out-take above. On the satellite pic, this building would be 2 down from the top of that street. (Why does this matter? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter etc)

One Virgin: Montagu Square, 1968 & 1984.

It seems every other post I do mentions the wanton destruction of Beatles-related "heritage" in this country. And why not? I don't necessarily reckon that all such destruction is a bad thing. That is the way of it - as some Wacker or other once said, all things must pass. And John would probably have been first on the wrecking ball at Kenwood. He hated the place.
34 Montagu Square, however, looks the same from the outside; I once was shown round by the old gent who took on the lease post-Ringo, though being a species of idiot I neglected to take photos.
The final scan is a bit of the front step, which I noticed had fallen off, and thus, for want of a better expression, got nicked. Also here, as you may have noticed, one of the original prints for the Two Virgins sleeve, taken in Montagu Square in the bedroom. It is a bit full-on. But that was them. Let's not make a big thing of it. Etc.