These stunning photos capture The Beatles filming in Knole Park in Sevenoaks
This month marks the 50th anniversary of when Beatlemania hit Sevenoaks. The legendary British band recorded promotional videos for their double A-side, Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane, from January 30, 1967. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr visited the deer park on three occasions in January and February that year, each time accompanied by Swedish film director Peter Goldmann and a camera unit from Don Long Productions. And Kent Live has been given access to some brilliant images of that nostalgic time.
Most of the film for Strawberry Fields Forever was shot around a dead oak tree – perhaps inspired by the lyric, "No one, I think, is in my tree". Due to lighting issues the recording had to be completed on January 31. The band and the film crew went to Stratford to film further sequences for Penny Lane, but returned to Knole Park on February 7 to shoot the horse-riding and candelabra scenes.
They rode their horses out through an arch in a ruined wall, watched by a crowd of pupils from Sevenoaks School. The champagne bottle in the dinner table scene was obtained by pupil Julian Joseph Sylvester, who was then 14. "It was a games afternoon but I was off games due to some ailment and had the afternoon free," he said, "It was rumoured that The Beatles were in Knole Park which the school grounds back onto so I thought I would go and take a look. "Sure enough there they were making, as it now turns out the first promo pop film for their double A-sided single Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields.
By: Sian Elvin
Source: Kent Live News
