The Ballad of John and Sandbanks

This week in 1969, John and Paul recorded what was to be The Beatles' final number one single, The Ballad of John and Yoko.
The song chronicles the events of 16 March to 1 April and covers John's marriage to Yoko, an episode that began in the car en route to Aunt Mimi's home at Sandbanks that John had bought for her four years earlier.
He called it "the most beautiful place I know" and had visited many times, initially with Cynthia and baby Julian, but also on his own and with Yoko.
Stories continue to circulate locally that John made a couple of clandestine visits to see Mimi after his departure for New York with Yoko in 1971. If he did return to the UK during that time he managed to keep it very quite. It seems impossible to imagine that, even when he was keeping a low profile following Sean's birth in 1975, he could have flown into the country and not been reported or photographed anywhere.
It could be possible that be arrived by boat, perhaps at Poole, or even Southampton - in a reverse of the events related in The Ballad of John and Yoko - but, again, could John Lennon, famous ex-Beatle, have enjoyed a quick visit by the shores of Poole Harbour without being noticed?
It's an on-going inquiry...
What is known about John and Mimi at Sandbanks - and some photos - is contained in Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth, which can be ordered here.
As for the recording session itself, that is extensively catalogued by The Beatles Rarity by the ever-thorough Happy Nat.

Aunt Mimi at Sandbanks

Those lovely folks over at the mine of Merseybeat information that is Liverpool Beat have kindly agreed to host an article about John Lennon's aunt Mimi and how she came to live by the sea.
Ever keen to oblige we've supplied an extract from Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth.
Read it here.
The photo was taken at Harbour's Edge, the home John bought for Mimi at Sandbanks, by press photographer Tom Hanley on assignment for the Daily Sketch at John's insistence in 1971 around the time he left for New York with Yoko.
Tom, who had been a confidant of The Beatles since finding himself holed up in a hotel room with them in Paris in 1964, visited Mimi with reporter Mike Hennessey.
"We spent the best part of a day with Mimi and found her to be very nice, very generous old lady, not at all how she has been portrayed since," remembers Tom.
The full story of Tom's day by the sea with Mimi is told in Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth, which can be ordered from the official website.
More of Tom's photos of The Beatles and others can be seen at tommyhanley.com.

Bournemouth in The Ballad of John & Yoko

The Beatles' 17th and final UK number one, The Ballad of John & Yoko is a narrative account of John and Yoko's marriage on 20 March 1969 - the culmination of a series of events that began on the way to visit Aunt Mimi at Sandbanks.
The episode is covered in this extract from Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth...

On 12 March Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London and just two days later, John (who had divorced Cynthia the previous August) announced he was to marry Yoko Ono. On a visit to Aunt Mimi at Sandbanks John sent his chauffeur, Les Anthony, to Southampton to find out if he and Yoko could marry at sea. Having been told that would not be possible they chartered a private jet to take them to Paris, but were unable to arrange a wedding at short notice so opted to “get married in Gibraltar near Spain”, as related in The Beatles’ final number one single, The Ballad Of John and Yoko.

The song also represented something like the spirit of The Beatles of old. Although mainly written by John, it was finished by Lennon and McCartney at Paul’s home on 14 April and recorded the same evening with the two playing all the instruments as George was on holiday and Ringo was away filming The Magic Christian. Buoyed by this new spirit The Beatles regrouped, went back to basics and made Abbey Road. It was released on 26 September, returning the group to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

For a finely detailed account of the song's genesis, recording and release - as well as a raw version of the finished track without overdubs - take a look at the redoubtable Beatles Rarity website post.

Signed copies of Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth and limited edition prints of previously unpublished photos from the book can be ordered here.