John back at Mimi's... more photos!

Einstein said the more he learned the more he realised how much he didn't know, so that puts us all in good company.

I came across these photos recently. They were taken in 1966 and show John Lennon at Harbour's Edge, the waterside home he bought for his Aunt Mimi in Sandbanks the year before. Clearly the photos pre-date the iron railings John bought for Mimi so she could sit outside on that ledge and watch the birds.

With John are his half-sister Jackie, his cousin David Birch and Derek Layder, a family friend.

John with David Birch

David's mum Harriett was the youngest of the five Stanley sisters - Mary (Mimi), Elizabeth, Anne and John's mother Julia were the others. Years later John said the sisters were: "...five fantastic, strong, beautiful and intelligent women..."

After Julia's death in 1958, John lived with Mimi and his half sisters Jackie and Julia went to live with their Aunt Harriett, Uncle Norman and David, their cousin.

The photos suggest a close family unit and it seems John and David were in regular contact. 

A year or so later when David was living with Mimi at Sandbanks he visited John and Cynthia at home at Kenwood in Weybridge where Lennon gave him the 1963 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Nashville model guitar he used on the Paperback Writer sessions.

According to the auction description when the guitar failed to meet its £400,000 reserve last year, David has asked John is he had a spare guitar he didn't want as he was planning to get a band together with some mates.

"I had my eye on a blue Fender Stratocaster that was lying in the studio but John suggested and gave me the Gretsch while we were talking," he said.

David also asked to borrow John's Mini Cooper and obtained the necessary cover note (below), which has since turned up in a collector's hands and (inevitably) on to teh internet.In 1991 David Birch was awarded the MBE for his services to the information technology industry. 

Whether or not he has since been moved to follow his famous cousin and return it for any reason is not known!

:: You might have noticed but we've been away for a while and there hasn't been a great deal of activity on the blog. Apologies for that. The plan is to resume whatever passed for normal service forthwith!

The book, Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is still available at www.natula.co.uk. 

John, Mimi and family and Sandbanks

I stumbled on the excellent Tumblr page CynthiaLennonLove recently and found a post dedicated to John and Mimi at Sandbanks, complete with photos of various family members.

The text recounts the story told in the book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth, of John and Cynthia taking Mimi house hunting for a property by the sea after the premiere of Help! They settled on a bungalow called Harbour's Edge, at 126 Panorama Road, Sandbanks, which John bought for £65,000. Mimi moved in during October 1965 after which John and Cynthia and baby Julian became fairly regular visitors, particularly in the summer of 1966, as 
seen in these photos.

The first shot (above) shows Mimi sat outside at Harbour's Edge. Pictured right is Cynthia on a family visit with John's aunt Harriet and halfsister Jacqui Dykins (taken from Julia Baird's book John Lennon My Brother) and below that from the same book is a snap of John relaxing with his cousin.

The story goes that John called Harbour's Edge "The most beautiful place I know" and loved visiting because people would leave him alone.

Cynthia recalled one trip to the seaside at Sandbanks where they frolicked on the beach, built sandcastles, swam and enjoyed a picnic with Julian.

Much later Mimi remembered one instance when a photographer tried to snap John and the family on the beach. She was horrified but her nephew must have been in a forgiving mood, telling her not to worry and that he hoped whoever tipped off Fleet Street's finest had 
managed to make a couple of bob!

John also managed a visit with Julian in April 1967, in the run-up to the release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on 1 June.
On that occasion he and Mimi were photographed with Julian by the Sandbanks Ferry. This image of Julian appears in Andrew Solt's book Imagine.

Mimi lived at Harbour's Edge until her death in 1991, at which point John's widow Yoko sold it. Other than a few squatters and some rave parties the house remained empty until it was demolished in 1994 to make way for two luxury homes. Sandbanks now boasts the fourth most expensive land prices in the world behind Belgravia, Upper Manhattan and Moscow, but ahead of Tokyo and Paris.

Read the full post here. Former milkman Tony O'Hara shared more memories of Mimi at Harbour's Edge and an account of what Sandbanks was like in the 1960s and 1970s, in this article from Dorset Life. 

Kinks' drummer Mick Avory on Beatles 'row'

Mick Avory in action with the Kast Off Kinks

Thanks to a lengthy and somewhat bitter account in Ray Davies' otherwise excellent autobiography X-Ray there has always been an air of mystery surrounding The Kinks' appearance with The Beatles at Bournemouth Gaumont on bank holiday Sunday 2 August 1964.
Scheduled to open the second half of the show, playing immediately before The Beatles, according to Ray as the band tuned up behind the curtain he and John Lennon exchanged unpleasantries as the fans screamed for The Beatles. Just as the curtain raised Ray Davies changed the set list and The Kinks opened with their new single, You Really Got Me, ahead of its release on Tuesday.

The fans' screams turned to 'We want The Kinks' and apparently to avoid a repeat performance in the second house, the irked Fab Four insisted The Kinks be moved to a close the first half of the show.
There were no other eye witness accounts to support or contest Ray Davies' account. Fans that were present recall The Kinks making an impression on the crowd, but not to the extent that they 'converted' Beatles fans to scream for them over their mop topped idols.
Indeed, Kinks drummer Mick Avory has no recollection at all of anything untoward before their set.
In a recent email he told me: "I remember us going on before The Beatles and had a great reception from the crowd, with Paul McCartney coming up to us when we came off saying: 'You didn't have to warm them up that much!'."
:: Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is available from Natula Publications.

George writing Don't Bother Me in Bournemouth

This tape recording of George Harrison composing his first song for The Beatles was one of the most popular entries on this blog when first posted a couple of years ago.
The earlier clip has long since been withdrawn but now it's back!
Confined to his room at the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth during their week-long summer season at the Odeon next door from 19 to 24 August 1963, George coughs and splutters his way through the makings of what would become Don't Bother Me, his first Beatles song and featured on the With the Beatles album, the cover of which was photographed downstairs in the Palace Court restaurant that same week.
The tape was made by Beatles' driver Alf Bicknell on the reel-to-reel recorder given to him by John Lennon and surfaces from time to time as a bootleg.
Bill Harry, founder-editor of the Merseybeat newspaper, who was with The Beatles in Bournemouth that week, says he had been on at George for ages to get him to write a song for the group. George, who later dismissed the song as 'not very good' in his autobiography, finally gave in and used it to pass the time after Brian Epstein had sent him to his room for the day to keep his fresh for the shows that night.
(In fact, George had previously co-written In Spite Of All The Danger with Paul McCartney in 1958 when they were in The Quarrymen and recorded it as a demo with Buddy Holly's That'll Be The Day.)
The 2009 stereo remastering  of Don't Bother Me can be seen and heard below.

 

A Hard Day's Night talkin' Beatles

Word is building about this year's inaugural Purbeck Literary Festival and tickets are already selling well for the screening of A Hard Day's Night at Swanage Legion on 22 February.
I've been asked to introduce the screening with an hour or so of talk about The Beatles and their Dorset links, followed by a Q&A for anyone who wants to know more. I'll also be showing some of the 200+ images from my book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth, but I'm afraid if anyone wants  the famous shot of John, Julian and Mimi coming off the Sandbanks ferry they'll have to buy the book.
The wonderfully discerning online multi-mood machine/magazine Eyeplug has recently run an interview with me all about writing the book and getting it out there. You can read it here.

Beatles talk in Hardy country

What would Thomas Hardy have made of The Beatles? Or Enid Blyton for that matter? Both literary giants have a strong association with the Isle of Purbeck and both will be well represented in the programme of events that make up the inaugual Purbeck Literary Festival, from 17 February to 2 March.
Blyton's Famous Five were, of course, described as 'The Beatles of children's literature' by one breathless commentator in 1970, around the time the Fab Four split. The reasons are convoluted, the reasoning decidedly tenuous, but the association is put up for discussion at the Enid Blyton: Greatest Publishing Phenomenon blog.

All of which brings us to Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth author Nick Churchill (right) who has been invited by the Festival to introduced a screening of A Hard Day's Night at Swanage Legion on 22 February. 
Nick will present an hour-long talk with images (hopefully) on The Beatles' Dorset Story and answer questions about the book and the various links The Beatles had with the area, including John Lennon's trips up the River Frome to Wareham and, of course, the photo of him with young Julian and Aunt Mimi coming off Sandbanks Ferry in April 1967.

Bacon, eggs and The Beatles in Bournemouth

Photo courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo

The Beatles’ return to Bournemouth to play the Winter Gardens on 16 November 1963 was a pivotal moment in their eventual conquest of America, with film crews from the three major US TV networks on hand to film them. 

It also provided an expected highlight in the life of Bournemouth socialite Javier Revuelta Pineiro... even though he had no idea who they were!

Freelance journalist Roger Guttridge uncovered the story following the publication of Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth.

Following the madness of the two shows at the Winter Gardens that night, The Beatles were spirited away in a Black Maria to Madeira Road police station. But before they went back to the Branksome Towers Hotel at Branksome Chine they decided to go for  a bite to eat and returned to a late night restaurant in Exeter Road they had frequented during their summer season in August.

The Beatles on stage at the Winter Gardens

The doorman turned them away initially as that night it was closed for a private party hosted by Mr Pineiro, known as Rev to his friends, and his new wife Joan who were celebrating with friends and family who had been unable to attend their wedding on 26 October.

Being more of a jazz fan than pop, Rev didn't know who they were but let them in on the recommendation of his best man.

He recalled: “Ringo came over and said, ‘We’ve eaten here before after the show. Can we join the party?’"

Rev offered to cook for them himself and asked what they would like.

“Ringo said they’d like eggs, bacon, sausage and chips and I cooked them their meal. They were smashing lads and one of them asked how they could repay us. I said I didn’t want anything so they offered to go out and get their stuff and play for my guests.

“They played and mucked about for an hour. Twenty or 30 girls also turned up and the party went on till 2 o’clock in the morning. John Lennon gave me his personal number and the Cavern Club number and said they would repay me.”

:: Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is available at a special price in time for Christmas. Order here.

John Lennon - 'The most beautiful place I know'

It was the summer of 1965 when John Lennon decided to get his beloved Aunt Mimi out of Liverpool and away from the fans that besieged the home in Menlove Avenue where he had spent most of his childhood.

He spent £25,000 on Harbour's Edge, a six-bedroom waterside bungalow at 126 Panorama Road, right by the Sandbanks to Studland chain ferry. He called it 'the most beautiful place I know'.

The neighbours kept to themselves and there was no more intrusion on her life than Mimi wanted. Her move that September was reported in the local press, but the rest of the world didn't much care.

Earlier that year The Beatles had recorded songs such as Help! and Ticket To Ride, in which John appears to be confronting the reality of his fame. Perhaps he recognised Sandbanks as a place he could hide away?

He certainly visited as often as he could over the next couple of years.

And perhaps his relationship to the area is perfectly encapsulated by the terrific photo that features in Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth in which he appears with Mimi and his son Julian by the ferry, clutching the boy on one hand a bucket and spade in the other. He's glaring at a cameraman who's presence is unexplained, although it might be the local TV press that Mimi referred to in an interview not long after John's death in which she blames the ferryman for tipping off the press who interrupted a private visit.

Conversely, Cynthia Lennon recalls John cavorting on the beach in a sun hat, shorts and blouse, turning cart wheels and totally ignored by the wider world.

John's love of Sandbanks - and the photo from the book - inspired Dorset artist Stephen Bishop to create this painting, The Collector, in tribute.

'I painted the homage to John Lennon as I am a fan of his solo and Beatles work,' says Stephen. 'I love the Beatles and think they exemplify artists who are both creatively fantastic, experimental and successful. I love the way they developed in such a short space of time. They inspire me.

'Born in 1963 and enjoying family holidays in Purbeck (camping at Tom's Field in Langton Matravers) I have fond memories of taking the ferry at Sandbanks from the late 60s onwards. I adore the photo of John with Mimi and Julian.  

'I feel an emotional attachment to what it represents. It shows a proud father with his son and I find it touching as this relationship wasn't as full or constant as either would have liked it to be. In my painting, The Collector, I have also referenced images from earlier times in Dorset.  

'The figure sharpening a scythe replaces the photographer in the photo and for me is a intimation of what would happen to John in New York, a victim of his fame. The Collector is the title of a John Fowles novel that I like  and also refers to the toll that must be paid to cross on the ferry.'

More of Stephen's new work will be on show at the ARThouse Gallery in Bournemouth's Russell-Cotes Museum in August.

He'll also be exhibiting at L'Artishe Contemporary Art Gallery, Swanage from 21 September to 12 October.

:: Order Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth at a special price from here.

:: More about Stephen Bishop at www.stephenbishop.co.uk.

Tea and biscuits with Mimi

Above: Mimi at Harbour's Edge; and (below) in the lounge with John

Retired policeman Clive Garland was on duty the night Beatlemania gripped Bournemouth like a vice – 16 November 1963.

He was part of the squad detailed to escort The Beatles from Madeira Road police station to the Winter Gardens in a Black Maria police van.

Clive was simply doing his duty amid the mayhem that night - rubbing shoulders with hysterical teenagers and bewildered pop stars was all in a night’s work.

Events moved fast and as soon as the tidal wave of Beatlemania had broken on Bournemouth, the next morning it was gone.

However, Clive had not long joined the Bournemouth Borough Police Life Saving Team – and before long he was to again enter the orbit of The Beatles.

“We trained at Stokewood Road swimming baths every week and taught life saving in Schools throughout the Borough,” he remembers.

“We would train in the River Stour, at what was then Pontins holiday camp, and Bryanston School for competitions all over the south of England.

“On a couple of occasions in 1966 we were taken to Harbour’s Edge, the bungalow that John Lennon bought for his aunt Mimi in Panorama Road. We swam off the steps in Poole Harbour, which meant swimming constantly against the out-going tide, so as not to be washed out to sea.

“PC George Ferneyhough was our trainer. The team members included David Bradley, Bill Stevenson, Peter Owen, Tom Morgan, Richard Thomas, Charlie Case, John Howes and myself.

“Aunt Mimi would bring out tea and biscuits after we had finished.”

:: For the full story of The Beatles at the Winter Gardens in Bournemouth and more about how Aunt Mimi came to live by the sea at Sandbanks, see Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth. Copies available to order here at the special price of £14.95.

Billy J Kramer talks Bournemouth and The Beatles

Billy J Kramer in New York in 2012, photo by Steve Gardner

Billy J Kramer is in integral part of the story of The Beatles and Bournemouth. 

As the main support act for their six-day summer season at the Gaumont from 19 to 24 August 1963, by day Billy J held court with The Beatles, almost as an equal, being interviewed, photographed and courted by local celebrities, dignitaries and the media. One of the grande dames of British newspaper columnists of the day, Nancy Spain of the Daily Express, interviewed Billy and gave the new(ish) Merseybeat scene her seal of approval.

They arrived in Bournemouth on Billy's 20th birthday and The Beatles threw a drinks party for him in their dressing room between shows. Also celebrating his second single Bad To Me (written by Lennon and McCartney), later that day they held a big reception at the Palace Court where they were photographed by Disc magazine who ran the shot on their front page that Friday to congratulate Billy on his birthday and his chart topping single.

I caught up with Billy on the phone from his New York home... and discovered he remembers things a little differently.

photo by Harry Taylor, copyright Dave Robinson

Billy, you appeared with The Beatles in Bournemouth as main support act on their six day summer season at the Gaumont in August 1963. It was your 20th birthday and The Beatles had a party in your dressing room (above) between shows on the opening night before a big reception at the Palace Court Hotel next door. Bad To Me was number one, wasn’t it?

Well, I’ll tell you the story of Bad To Me, as I remember it.

We arrived in Bournemouth and it was my 20th birthday and I have very distinct memories of drinks in the dressing room, the party at the hotel next door, cutting the cake and the rest of it, but this is what happened with Bad To Me.

They were getting all the gear on stage and everyone was having a big jam – Paul McCartney was playing drums would you believe?

I was in a corridor off the stage with John, just me and him, and he said he’d got this song they thought I might want to record. I said: ‘Well, let’s hear it then John. Are you going to play it for us?’ He said he didn’t what to play it there, but said he’d drop by the next time I was in Abbey Road. I kept on at him, but he wouldn’t budge, not even when we were back at the hotel.

So anyway, a few weeks later I was at Abbey Road and I didn’t think he’d show, but then, sure enough, there he was. We had a chat and then he sat at the piano and played me the song – and it was Bad To Me. That was the first time I heard the song and it was after Bournemouth.

Funnily enough, there are photos of The Beatles reading a copy of Disc music paper that carries a headline about your 20th birthday and Bad To Me being number one.

Well, I don’t know how that could have happened. I have very, very good memories of that time. I can see John now sat at the piano playing the song to be. He also played me a new song they had called I Want To Hold Your Hand. I said: ‘Can I have that one?” and he said: ‘No, we’re doing that one ourselves.’

But, you know, I was 20 years old and having the time of my life.

It would be great for you to see these photos though Billy, everyone looked so young and innocent – obviously nobody had a clue what would become of you, The Beatles or anything else for that matter.

I’d love to see them as well because a lot of my stuff from that time I’ve lost or it has been ruined – I remember lending a load of stuff to my brother to show his mates and it came back all torn and tatty.

Someone gave me this photo not so long ago of me stood outside the Palace Theatre in Manchester with Cilla Black and Brian Epstein. We were doing a week there and there’s this magical photo of the three of us – things like that bring back some happy memories.

Talking of Brian, who obviously managed your career as well as The Beatles’, you’ve been campaigning to have him inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. It seems incredible that he isn’t there already.

There’s a line in my new song Liverpool With Love that asks why Brian Epstein isn’t in the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. I just can’t understand it. He gave the world The Beatles and he’s this almost forgotten man.

For the last eight months or so I’ve been campaigning to have Brian inducted because there is a place for non-performers and what he did with The Beatles changed music, it changed the world. There’s a limit to what I can do from over here in New York, but local radio in Liverpool has picked up on it and I just wish a few more would do as well because if it hadn’t been for him, the world might never have heard of The Beatles.

I remember seeing Brian out at night at gigs in Liverpool looking totally brow beaten because he’d been down in London all day trying to get a break for The Beatles and had suffered nothing but rejection all day long. It must have got him down, but he kept at it and because of that, the world got to hear The Beatles.

Now, if that’s not reason enough for him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame I don’t know what is.

You’ve been off the radar for a few years, but there’s a new album ready for release, how did that come about?

I never set out to make a record, but it was one of them things where lots of little things come together and suddenly you see the way ahead.

It’s 30-odd years since I did any serious recording, I don’t know why. It’s just the way it was. To be honest, I never thought about it, there was always other things going on. Then I was in the UK a few years ago doing a track with Billy Kinsley (of The Merseybeats – I’m the One Who Loves You on the 1997 album Many Happy Returns celebrating 30 years of Radio Merseyside) and I was given a copy of his latest album and it was really good. I congratulated him on it and he said I should think about writing some songs.

I walk my dogs every day in a dog park near my home in New York and I got to know this guy who runs shows in schools to get the kids to eat properly, that kind of thing. He told me one day he also writes and records his own songs then he asked me what I do, so I told him I’m Billy J Kramer and he said: ‘Oh my, well, why don’t you get some songs together, I’ll help you.’

We came up with this song, I Can’t Keep My Dog Outside Tonight, which sounds like a country song, but isn’t. It has a dark side and there’s a light side to it as well. I wrote another song called Sunset Sante Fe, which my wife said is really catchy and then there’s the new single Liverpool With Love, which is my tribute to the city I love.

So it all feels very natural really, there’s nothing forced about this record.

The album’s called I Won the Fight – is that how it feels sometimes?

People tell me it’s my first album in 30-something years, but to me it’s more like my first ever album. To tell you the truth, all those albums I did years ago we never spent longer than 13 hours on any of them.

There were the singles and then a load of fillers, which I just sang through from the lyric sheet, then never sang again. I didn’t know the songs then, I don’t know them now, but that’s just how things were in those days.

I love to come over there to the UK and perform this record though. There’s nothing artificial about the album – it’s got real guitars, real drums, real keyboards, real bass – but I suppose a lot has to depend on how well the record is received when it comes out.

We’ll have to wait and see.

interview © Nick Churchill 2013

:: Orders for I Won the Fight are being taken at www.billyjkramersite.com

:: For more photos of Billy J Kramer and The Beatles in Bournemouth, see Yeah Yeah Yeah" The Beatles & Bournemouth, on order from www.beatlesandbournemouth.com