He blew his mind out in a car
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:55 am
Did you know where the phrase from A Day in the Life," He blew his
mind out in a car," came from? It was 38 years ago today... actually
yesterday, that Guinness heir and friend of John Lennon, Tara Browne,
died in his Lotus Elan.
"Tara Browne was the son of Lord and Lady Oranmore and Browne, whose
great-grandfather was the brewer Edward Guinness. Tara went to Eton
and, had he lived, would have inherited 1,000,000 at the age of
twenty-five. A charming, likeable boy, with a wide grin and his hair
brushed forward in a Beatle cut, he was a great friend of Brian Jones
and often stayed overnight tripping on LSD with Brian, Keith Richards
and Anita Pallenberg at Brian's flat in Courtfield Road. In the book
Shutters and Blinds Anita described one trip with him: 'I remember
being with Tara Browne on one of the first acid trips. He had a Lotus
sportscar and suddenly near Sloane Square everything went red. The
lights went red, the trees were flaming and we just jumped out of the
car and left it there.'
Tara died in the early hours of the morning of 18 December 1966,
while on his way to visit David Vaughan, who was painting a design on
the front of Tara's Kings Road shop Dandy Fashions. He smashed his
Lotus Elan into the back of a parked van while swerving to avoid a
Volkswagen which had pulled out in his path in Redcliffe Gardens in
Earls Court. He was twenty-one. The coroner's report on his death was
issued in January 1967."
Gary
'71 Elan
mind out in a car," came from? It was 38 years ago today... actually
yesterday, that Guinness heir and friend of John Lennon, Tara Browne,
died in his Lotus Elan.
"Tara Browne was the son of Lord and Lady Oranmore and Browne, whose
great-grandfather was the brewer Edward Guinness. Tara went to Eton
and, had he lived, would have inherited 1,000,000 at the age of
twenty-five. A charming, likeable boy, with a wide grin and his hair
brushed forward in a Beatle cut, he was a great friend of Brian Jones
and often stayed overnight tripping on LSD with Brian, Keith Richards
and Anita Pallenberg at Brian's flat in Courtfield Road. In the book
Shutters and Blinds Anita described one trip with him: 'I remember
being with Tara Browne on one of the first acid trips. He had a Lotus
sportscar and suddenly near Sloane Square everything went red. The
lights went red, the trees were flaming and we just jumped out of the
car and left it there.'
Tara died in the early hours of the morning of 18 December 1966,
while on his way to visit David Vaughan, who was painting a design on
the front of Tara's Kings Road shop Dandy Fashions. He smashed his
Lotus Elan into the back of a parked van while swerving to avoid a
Volkswagen which had pulled out in his path in Redcliffe Gardens in
Earls Court. He was twenty-one. The coroner's report on his death was
issued in January 1967."
Gary
'71 Elan