"We entertain very few. P.J. Proby was there one night and George Martin another. I think those are the only two we've specifically said 'Come to dinner' to, and made preparations. Normally I like people to drop 'round on the off chance. It cuts out all that formal entertaining business. We've just had Ivan and Jean down for a weekend - they're old friends from Liverpool, and Pete Shotton. The fellow who runs my supermarket came round on Saturday."
John, 1966
Obviously there were a number of guest far beyond from what I'll be writing about here. Family, friends, celebrities, hanger-ons, fans, they all went to Kenwood, usually for a meal, listening to music, watching TV, stuff you normally do when entertaining guests.
Pete Shotton and Cynthia's mother were honorary live-ins.
Other family visitors include John's sisters Julia and Jackie, his cousins Stanley, Leila, David and Michael, Aunt Mimi, Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Harrie, Aunt Nanny, Cynthia's brothers Charles and Anthony, John's father Alfred (his girlfriend Pauline was another live in but she didn't last as long as Pete and Lil), long time friends like Ivan Vaughan and Phyllis Mackenzie, list goes on. Of course, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, Ringo and Maureen Starr, George and Pattie Harrison, George and Judy Martin, Mal and Lil Evans, Neil Aspinall, Peter Brown, Tony Bramwell, Alistair Taylor, Derek and Joan Taylor, Terry Doran, and more from the Beatles circle were also frequent visitors.
I already wrote about Julia and Jackie, Aunt Mimi, and most recently Mike and Phyllis Nesmith visiting Kenwood in the past.
As for celebrities: Bob Dylan, P. J. Proby, Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Alan Price, Victor Spinetti, Joan Baez, and more.
I'm not going to go in chronological order but here are some interesting tidbits about some of Kenwood's visitors:
P. J. Proby in 1965
To be honest with you, out of these celebrities, I know about P. J. Proby the very least, and after reading a bit about him while researching for this post, I'm rather glad I know next to nothing about this guy! Anyway, personal feelings aside, from 1964 until 1966, P. J. and John were buddies while Cynthia was... let's say I don't think P. J. was her favorite person but I don't think she disliked him either. P. J., John, and Cynthia socialized at each other's homes and coming home as the sun was coming up at dawn.
"In spring of 1964, P.J. Proby, a Texan rocker from a wealthy oil and banking background, who looked and sounded like Elvis, was invited to appear on the first Beatles' TV show, Around the Beatles. Beyond his obvious talent, John was almost hypnotically fascinated by P.J.'s demonic, destructive nature. P.J. was like John's dark twin, a man who quickly found his way into the wilder circles and excesses of London society. He was a Jack Black man, lots of it, but John wasn't. To Cynthia's dismay, John started to hang out with the lean Texan who dressed like a cowboy during the day and in velvets, ruffled pirate shirts and buckled shoes by night......One evening they met up at the Ad Lib. P.J. just cruised through the booze, but John got hammered. P.J. roared with laughter when he told me the details of how the evening went from there, how Cynthia miserably trailed in their wake, begging John to take her home when they went on to a party in a basement apartment of a red brick Victorian mansion block in Bayswater, where I had mybedsit. Cyn was horrified when she realized that many couples- some of them titled- were into voyeuristic sex, while others were watching a blue movie. John was passed a massive reefer and took a deep, chest-convulsing drag. He passed it to Cynthia and she declined, so he took another drag. Poor John. Tough nut and Joe Cool felt waves of nausea sweeping over him and rushed to the bathroom,where he threw up into the large white bathtub."
Tony Bramwell
"I used to go over to his and Cynthia’s place every Saturday. I introduced him to bourbon. I went over there one day and, as I usually did, I started to pour the bourbon out at the coffee table and John said, 'Not for me.' And I said, 'None for you?' He said, 'No, I’m smoking the peace weed from now on.' And he pulled out this paper and it was very large and he rolls this joint and it wasn’t packed at all. It was all loose. He put it in his mouth and I knew when he lit it what was going to happen, but I kept my mouth shut. He lit the cigarette and it went Whoomph! Nearly burned his eyebrows off. So I said, 'John, I don’t even smoke cigarettes but let me show you how to pack those things. All my friends in California do this.' So I rolled him a joint. But that was the end of his and my boozing days. We drifted apart after that because he didn’t want to go out and raise hell anymore. He wanted to stay at home and get stoned all the time."
P. J. Proby, 2018
"I stayed very very close friends with John Lennon most of all. I’d go over to John’s house and Cynthia would cook me southern fried chicken and all kind of Texas food and everything. John and I would go up to his little room – Cynthia had given him one whole floor at the top of the house for himself and he had painted it all matte black and all matte red. That’s where he did his music and he had one room full of toy cars and a big racetrack and we would just race toy cars all day and play music."
P. J. Proby, 2012
"They were all very nice. Then one I got along with best was John. John was married to Cynthia and I was just going through a divorce, so we had something more in common. John and I were nearer each other's age. I was twenty-five and John was about twenty-four. I understood John's humor. The rest of 'em didn't have any humor, except for Ringo. He kind of sat in the background and didn't say very much. So John invited me out to his home. I'd go out there every weekend. I introduced him to Jack Daniels. So, I'd take about five fifths of Jack out there every weekend. Cynthia would make cornbread and corn on the cob and Southern food for me. Southern fried chicken. John and I just became very close. John and I would play pranks on people like Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. We'd go over to Brian's house about three sheets in the wind and steal all of Brian's clothes and then go back to my place and wait for the phone to ring. Brian would call; 'Hey guys, please, please bring my clothes back. Your dirty laundry doesn't fit me anyway.' So, we'd just laugh and take all of his clothes back to him."
P. J. Proby
"We didn't really talk all that much. He had a house, this huge, huge mansion with hardly any furnishings in it. Cynthia had let him take the top floor in this three story mansion and that was his floor to do anything he wanted. So, he painted it mat black and mat red. In one huge, huge room he just laid down these tracks, almost like a train track, but it was for cars. He and I would sit up there for hours and hours and race these cars against each other. Then we'd go into a music room and sit down. He had every instrument in the world in there. We'd take turns playing different instruments. He really amazed me when I pulled out a steel guitar and he could play it. He could even play Country And Western on it."
P. J. Proby
By 1966, the friendship petered out; P. J. moved on and, at this time of writing, is still alive.
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were a British comedy team, very much like Laurel & Hardy, Martin & Lewis, with comedy sketches and music on their television show, Not Only... But Also. John appeared on the show quite a few times between 1964 and 1966, becoming friends with both men. Peter Cook was married to Wendy since 1963 (until 1971) and they had two children. Wendy was very much like Cynthia, I think, as she was an art student. One time in January of 1965, John and Cynthia were invited to Peter and Wendy's home in London for dinner. Their driver, Les Anthony, got lost and had to call for directions (this was before GPS was invented).
"When John and Cynthia Lennon were coming to dinner I made a special expedition down to the French butcher in Soho in order to do filet de boeuf en croûte — fillet of beef smothered in pâté de foie gras with truffles and wrapped in a jacket of puff pastry. It is the kind of thing that needs a quick blast in the oven and not to sit around after that. The Lennons were invited for 8 PM. The other guests — including Dudley and and his wife Suzy Kendall — were all there on time. Eight-thirty came and went. I retrieved the filet from the oven. Nine PM and we got a phone call from Lennon’s Rolls-Royce. Their driver was lost. It was nearer 10 when they arrived. My special meal eventually appeared, looking rather forlorn, and judging by the expression on John’s face I might as well have opened a can of beans."
Wendy Cook, 2006
Sounds like Beef Wellington that Wendy made. It was also the first time John and Cynthia had garlic.
"John and I also spent many an enjoyable evening in the company of Peter Cook and his first wife dining superbly at their home in Hampstead with such dinner companions as Dudley Moore and that and that great wit Patrick Campbell. It was all very stimulating and exciting being able to converse and socialize with people who only a few short years before had been names in the newspapers and faces on a screen."
Cynthia, 1978 from her book A Twist of Lennon
In her second book, John, Cynthia wrote that Peter and Wendy invited them for lunch. Cynthia was impressed with the style of their home. John joined in on the jokes with Peter and Dudley; at one point, John nudged Cynthia under the table smiling at her - this was great! As they were leaving, John invited Dudley, Peter, and Wendy over to his house for a meal the following week. Cynthia was horrified! At the time, her cooking skills improved since becoming a wife but she felt she couldn't compete with the meal Wendy served. Cynthia was covered with cutlery, dinner table settings, and a wine cellar (despite not knowing what wine goes with what food). As the date got closer, Cynthia settled on prawn cocktails for appetizers, roast lamb as main course, and apple crumple pudding for dessert. At the last minute, Dudley had to cancel due to work; John promised to be home on time from the recording studio by 8 PM. A half hour before the arrival, Cynthia realized no flowers and stumbled in the garden while dark. She changed and was ready when The Cooks came on time, but not John. Cynthia served nuts and crisps (chips) in bowls to nibble on and drinks while waiting for John. Cynthia tried her best to keep the conversations going and Julian played cute while the food was disintegrating in the oven. If only Cynthia knew that Wendy experienced the same thing! John finally came late night, stoned to calm his nerves and lost track of time. John still had joints, Peter and Wendy accepted and when dinner was served they ate it with no problems despite overcooked. The dinner gathering was a success and they socialized often.
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were also guests, usually 'I'm in town, can I come over?' type when in town, usually separately. After the Cooks dinner gathering, Cynthia got cookbooks and expanded her social skills and confidence, welcoming people into her home while John would rather not but went along with it. On May 26, 1966, Bob spent the night in Kenwood and the next day, May 27th, John and Bob rode around in a limo while being filmed for Bob's documentary, Eat the Document.
Cynthia and Phyllis Mackenzie in 1964
After John and Cynthia moved to Kenwood in 1964, John was away on tour and Cynthia found the house lonely. She invited Phyllis to visit for a few weeks.
"Down south there didn't seem to be the casual dropping in on friends that I'd known in the north. Visits, however friendly, were by appointment only. Even my old mates seemed to fall away as if they were embarrassed by the wealth and luxury. My best friend Phyl came to stay once but she didn't come back. She couldn't handle it. Besides, she was married now with her own life to lead and these days our paths lay in different directions."
Cynthia, 1994
Cynthia and Phyllis went shopping, did their hair, and talked. By this time A Hard Day's Night was released in cinemas; Phyllis hadn't seen it yet so Cynthia took her to see it. She missed her husband and it was a chance to see him and hear his voice on film. Apparently it was Phyllis' only visit, Cynthia made it sound Phyllis was intimidated by the wealth but I think it was really because Phyllis was having her own life with marriage and eventually a child.
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