24 hours: Alexandra Palace & Dorinish, April 29/30, 1967.

On 29 April, 1967, John and partner-in-tea John Dunbar were in the sunroom at Kenwood watching television. A programme came on BBC2 mentioning the 14 Hour Technicolour Dream, being held that evening at the Ally Pally as it's known. The two Johns had been up for several days drinking tea, and decided to jump in the psychedelic Roller and attend. This they did, though they didn't stay for long. Accounts differ as to whether John knew that Yoko was also there that evening, managing one of her Cut Piece events. The following day, the two Johns headed off to view Dorinish (see previous posts), which John, of course, later bought. Here are drawings, one of them made by John, the other by an architect commissioned by him, of the structure that John planned to have built there. He visited Dorinish again in 1968, accompanied by Yoko, Pete Shotton and Ronan O'Rahilly, founder of Radio Caroline. John later donated the island to a hippie commune, who did actually attempt to live there for a couple of years, before establishing a similar community in Wales. John's famous quote about living off the coast of Ireland, looking at his and Yoko's "scrapbook of madness" when they were 64 was inspired by Dorinish. Apparently, he never forgot about the island and was talking about re-visiting it and finally building a house there shortly before his death.(Still no idea what happened to the caravan, mind you).