The final location of The Beatles’ Mad Day Out, in which hundreds of photographs were taken around London in the course of a day, was 7 Cavendish Avenue, Paul McCartney’s house in St John’s Wood, north London.
The shoot took place inside the geodesic dome that McCartney had constructed in his back garden. As the sun went down, McCartney was photographed inside with his dog Martha, before being joined by the other Beatles and Mal Evans’ son Gary.
We went back to Paul McCartney’s house in St John’s Wood, and after having tea we went out into his garden where there was this dome, like something out of James Bond or Doctor Who. We all lay around with a huge floppy dog in this strange science-fiction-like space.
Don McCullin
A Day In The Life Of The Beatles
A Day In The Life Of The Beatles
The final shots of this long day were of The Beatles standing outside the dome, photographed from below on the inside.
I used to sit round at my house with Robert Fraser, the gallery owner, listening to music. I’d started talking to him about having a folly. I loved the idea of follies and he put me in touch with an English architect who came up with my geodesic dome. It was my meditation platform. The dome is still there with a little Japanese garden leading up to it. So that’s where we all ended up, in the dome.
Paul McCartney
A Day In The Life Of The Beatles, Don McCullin
A Day In The Life Of The Beatles, Don McCullin
Page last updated: 5 July 2022
This map brings back so many memories of my time living in St. John’s Wood! Not only did one of Paul McCartney’s daughters (Stella, I believe) attend the same school as me, Barrow Hill Junior School – albeit with a couple of decades between us! – I also lodged for a couple of weeks as a patient in St. John and St. Elizabeth Hospital, just across Circus Road from Paul’s home in Cavendish Avenue. On the north side of the hospital was Loudon Road which, if memory serves me well, was where the church hall was where I attended 7th. Hampstead Cubs! Coincidentally, the girl who sat behind me in class was also named Stella! My father was a cricket coach at Lord’s Cricket Club, of which Cavendish Avenue leads down to the Nursery End of the grounds.
St. John’s Wood is a beautiful borough, being in NW8, and close to Regent’s Park, and despite losing its Home and Colonial store on the High Street, it still retains much of its original charm. Between Lord’s and the High Street is the park we visited in our school lunch breaks, where I was lucky enough to find a ten-bob note lying on a pathway. An absolute fortune! I handed it in at the local police, station and as there were no claimers, I retrieved it gratefully one month later! I was rich! Happy days!
Two other familiar names came from my class, one being Leslie Cross and the other was Robert Blackwell! Whether they were ever related to the Crosse & Blackwell of tinned food fame is not known! But you never know!