High as a Kite

Well at least that would be some excuse for the madness (madness I tell you !) of a middle aged idiot wasting his entire, precious Saturday morning in dusty old second hand bookshops and local libraries pawing over ancient, unloved tomes in search of a picture of an antique shop that once existed at the higher end of Sevenoaks town.  Kent in Colour - yours for a very reasonable one £1.50 - original price 2/6. 

Yes, yes ! The awning over the shop that was about to possess the circus poster. Judging by the attire of those shoppers I am guessing just seven more years before ...ting-a-long "Hi Ya (scouse accent). How much is that poster in the window ?""For you Mr Lennon a very reasonable ...." How much did he pay....  I'm getting closer ! Also see the Top-of-the-Hill restaurant next door but one.

Let me take you down 'cause...

At the tail end of 1970 I was nine years old. A Beatle freak such as I (me ? think it's I) might be expected to have a veritable closet load of memories from those formative years and this might then lead to some simple explanation of my anal retentiveness when it comes to fave subject. But no ! I recall very few Fab Facts from my youth. Que'ce que c'est que ca ? I hear your chorus cries ? I dunno captain ! I just canna' explain it. But there are just a few dim and distant memories...I recall my mother coming home from her Monday night bingo with my nan and proclaiming her win of 20 squids by throwing the notes in the air and exclaiming 'We Won !' to which I recall inquiring, "Are we as rich as the Beatles ?". "No.."said my nan, "They earn a hundred pound a week !". I'm guessing that to be about 1965. And then on to 1969 (or 1970) when lining up for assembly one of the kids told us all that a Geeeeerman was going to join the Beatles and so we all started to sing, "Ve all lieben in a yellow submarinee" - German accent hard to transcribe and I doubt we said 'lieben' - we were all plebs of the first order.

Enough of this guff. Look what I found (OK - bought but don't tell the family) on the intraweb. Which of the Fabs is the worst likeness ?? My God look at poor old Ringo ! I tittered at the words in the border - "Swami, how I love ya How I love ya my dear old Swami " Ho, ho, ho. This is MAD from 1968 - bloody obvious.

And then a very reasonably priced ST magazine from 1988 containing Yoko's response to the Albert Goldman book. Never read that one and not sure I would want to.

Look at JL with his best mate. I read somewhere that Yoko said not a day went by without JL talking about Stuart Sutcliffe. Really sticks in my mind and now I'm thinking about the Backbeat show I saw in London last year...stop thinking about it ! Too sad, too sad..

Hey ! Hey We're the Beatles ! Why did Ted Heath hail them as the savior of the corduroy industry ?  This is from the ST Magazine dated 29-Dec-1963. A very reasonable tenner on ebay - but shsssshhh ! The eldest needs new school shoes and I've told her she'll have to get a paper-round. She just does not get this whole priorities thing....

Magical Mystery Ivory Cutlery

Back in the day - the day being the year - the year being 1977, I recall the musical split in the 4th year views on music in our little ol' forgotten grammar school for boys by the sea.. We had the the would-be punks; the rebels without a pause who snuck out of woodwork early on a Tuesday afternoon to make the 999 gig at the  Electric Ballroom that evening, returning to Folkestone on the 5am train and sleeping through maths the next day smelling of..well just smelling really but sometimes of alcohol those lucky, daring sods. We had the would-be hippies who grew their hair long - as long as the demon headmaster would allow - who rode their Puch Maxi mopes in convey fashion to Canterbury University to watch Gong or whatever was the Canterbury prog rock thing of the time smelling of ....well just smelling really but sometimes of dope those lucky, hairy bastards. You know what's coming.... well I was a team-of-one...frowned upon by all others; tolerated...just. The.....boy who liked the Beatles smelling of ...oh Christ knows but nothing at all interesting the poor sod. Enough sharing already. Anyway, back in the ....done that.....whatever clan we were in, we all had good ol' Radio Caroline (who sometimes did a Roadshow in our sleepy hollow) and we had John Peel (who obviously favoured clan 1 in '77). But John Peel played this funny fellow reading out his funny poetry. Life in Scottish Living Room was a memorable surreal moment back then and much remarked upon the next day. Little did I know that he was a favourite of the Fabs and appointed to the role of Buster Bloodvessel in MMT.

Just caught up with my Virgin Box and watched MMT and the making-of said Beatle indulgence. Funny how it all comes back. Funny how very bad parents re-live out their youth  through their poor tolerant kids. I don't always like myself.

Mr Kite - Sevenoaks High Street

Been there, seen it, done it. Several times in fact (witness many previous pointless posts on this subject). However, being of unsound mind and even unsounder body, and of course, registering highly on the obsessive/compulsive scale, I keep going there, seeing it and doing it again and again - and no-one knows why !! Why ! Why ! Why ! Well, because its there and its on the doorstep of Casa Brilig. Ain't that a good enough reason ? A question that does not beg an answer. Here is said shop about a year ago

And here is a Frith photo of the antique shop where John Lennon bought the Mr Kite poster during the Beatles' visit to the fabulous Knole Park for the making of there SFF video. See the big clumsy arrow ? That is where it was !

Mein Gott Willy !! Look, you can just about see the flotsum and jetsum left outside the shop that must have drawn said Fab into the parlour.

Oh my God ! Look you can see the poster ! 

 Wouldn't that be good - to see the poster hanging on the wall just waiting for good ol' Johnny L to come and buy.