Kenwood: living room - 16th June, 1965.

On the above date, a "meeting" was apparently held in the living room at Kenwood to discuss Ringo's vocal contribution to the Help! album. The above pic shows the "discussion" reaching its climax, with Act Naturally the winner, upon which some form of revelry involving some form of dancing was engaged in:


Good old noble (other) Alf. This one's been on here before too, but here it is again, for reasons of etc:

Chiswick House: then & now - part 1.

Much as I love London (and I suppose I must), there are few more hellish places than, for example, Oxford Street on a hot day. Conversely, Chiswick House and gardens. Chiswick House (don't forget those gardens) is as lovely a spot as you will ever find, and made all the more so by the constant frissons engendered by happening upon oddly familiar places.
It was, of course, the locale for a pair of promo films from May '66 (one's called Rain and one's called Paperback Writer). Starting with Rain, and the gate that opens the film, seen from both sides, then and the noo:


Remarkably, the grounds don't seem to have changed much at all, since the day of filming (give or take a Ringo/statue/bush or two); the cedar tree branch, so familiar from the film and Nowhere Man ep, still there (and still covered in children when I visited):


The conservatory has undergone some refurbishment, but remains recognisable. The main difference is that the central portion, which saw much of the action, has been stripped of foliage/statuary:


One of my favourite Beatle pics, from the back cover of the 70s re-issue of Paperback Writer, much pored over as a nipper whilst the disc got spun to death (and odd it was too to be standing on the very spot all these years after the fact). The gate seen in the pic and promos isn't there anymore:


The area behind the conservatory, then as now, is home to vegetable patches and the like, and not usually open to the public. Hence, they hung out here between takes, attempting to avoid the massed ranks of teenagers from the school across the road:


Finally for part 1, a couple of pics taken near the second gate, between the conservatory and the car park; still, too, the same these days:


Note Mr Bicknell, bringing up the rear:


Part 2 to follow, like it or not. Thanks as ever to The Beatles' London (Schreuders, Lewisohn & Smith) for guidance (though wandering around lost is no chore at Chiswick (did I mention those gardens?)).

Kenwood: drawing room, 1965 part 2 - road crew.

Another splendidly candid shot, from the drawing room at Kenwood circa 1965. That's Alf Bicknell, the Beatles' chauffeur (as opposed to Les Anthony, John's personal driver) nearest the dining room door - and clearly having a whale of a time, too. Is that Neil Aspinall on the couch? Looks like it to me - which means this may have been taken by Mal Evans. Or not. As ever. Note (what is likely to be) Scotch and Coke on the table in front of John.
Speaking of intoxicants, Alf Bicknell, interestingly enough, in an interview not that long before his death, contradicted one of the great yarns of Beatles' lore - namely the "Dental Experience". Alf's version of events was a little more prosaic - to wit: He drove them to John Riley's place, waited for a couple of hours, whereupon they came out and informed him of the naughty dentist's actions...and then he drove them back to George's. Fin.
Thus no Pickwick Room (and Klaus Voormann does not remember them being there that night), no Ad-Lib, no George driving home at 18 mph, etc. etc., though this narrative does still leave room for submarine based antics. However, stacked up against the fact that Alf would have been the only one not tripping, and therefore possibly slightly better placed to recall veraciously, it must be said that John, Cynthia, George and Pattie all broadly agreed on the events of that evening in their various recollections - and their version is backed up by Ringo, who remembers them appearing at the Ad-Lib, and Riley's girlfriend Cyndy Bury, the only other person present at the dinner party itself. So it's yet another odd one. Which should be no big surprise by now. (And what does it matter?)
Great photo, though.