London Babylon: The Beatles & The Stones In The Swinging 60s
by Steve Overbury

Granny (and granddad) takes a trip

Germaine Greer, whose perspective on the decade’s successes and excesses developed from both her feminist writings and self-confessed “supergroupie” activities, defined the swinging 60s as an era of “just rich kids playing”. It’s a view which encapsulates the evolving consensus now superseding the “If you remember the 60s, you weren’t there” cliché. For the masses, the 60s was something that happened to the well-heeled in Chelsea.

Overbury’s self-published work supports this latest thinking; it’s packed with vivid character portraits and we notice a theme. Jane Asher’s father was the Harley Street doctor who identified Munchausen Syndrome. John Rendall, famous for keeping The Lion Cub From Harrods, was a friend of Princess Margaret’s lover Roddy Llewellyn. In the Clermont casino, Lord Lucan rubbed shoulders with F1 champion Graham Hill and high-roller John Aspinall. Affluence abounded.

At Mick Jagger’s pad at 13A Bryanston Mews East, or over at 101 Cromwell Road’s hippie haven, the new phenomena of the rock stars and their extended entourages held sway. Overbury’s challenge is to map out the hedonistic interconnectedness of music, fashion, drugs and gambling. It’s a big task and it does swamp us with arriving and departing personalities. Too much for a single sitting, but ideal to get lost in for a while.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 9780956408402, 408 pages

Reviewed by Ian Abrahams
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