A day in the life of Abbey Road

The iconic photo of the Beatles on the crossing outside Abbey Road Studios was taken 40 years ago on Saturday 8th August 1969. The photograph, taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, features John Lennon in a white suit and a barefoot Paul McCartney. Ever since the image appeared on the front of their Abbey Road album, the crossing has become a place of pilgrimage. Scores of Beatles fans visit every day to recreate the famous pose.


Abbey Road

Now there is talk that the iconic St John’s Wood zebra crossing made famous by The Beatles could be moved – because it is becoming an accident hotspot. Every year, fans head down to Abbey Road to take pictures on the crossing – immortalised on the Fab Four's 1969 Abbey Road cover. And this weekend, hundreds of fans flocked to the site to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the photo and to recreate the steps taken by John, Paul, Ringo and George. But an increase in the number of music lovers making the trip to the north-west London crossing has coincided with a rise in the number of accidents, according to figures from Westminster Council.



Since 2000, there have been 22 accidents, but residents believe many more have gone unreported, so officials are considering whether to dig up the crossing and move its black-and-white stripes and flashing beacons further down the road. Lindsey Hall, a councillor in the Abbey Road ward, said: "Maybe it’s time to end this once and for all and move this zebra crossing.”It may end up coming to that."However, a spokesman for Westminster Council said the crossing could be allowed to stay at its location and that the problem may be with the road junction, not the crossing. "The issue with that crossing is the busy junction. We have looked into a redesign."


Fans at the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing for the 40th anniversary of the Beatles album cover

A Day in the Life is a song by the British rock band The Beatles written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, based on an original idea by Lennon. It is the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the 26th greatest song of all time. As you know the Beatles were from Liverpool, sometimes known as Dublin East, for its strong Irish population and connections and there is an Irish connection to the “A Day in the Life.”


Luggala House


The Honourable Garech Browne (An t’Onoarch Garech de Brún)

The first verse was written about the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune and close friend of Lennon and McCartney, who had crashed his Lotus Élan on 18 December 1966 when he apparently went through a red light at high speed (possibly drunk or using drugs) and hit a truck in his path in Redcliffe Gardens, Earls Court. Tara was the younger brother of Garech Browne (An t’Onoarch Garech de Brún) who has done much for Irish Music with his Claddagh Records label which he founded. Garech was instantly recognisable around Dublin by his famous pony-tail, wispy beard, tweed suit and dapper appearance and his wonderful old Bentley parked on the pavement outside Peter’s Pub in South William Street.


Lough Tay, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

He would disappear every winter and in the spring invaribly arrive “in town” with a new eastern beauty on his arm. He was married in 1981 to the Princess Purna of Morvi, daughter of His Highness Sri Mahendra Sinhji (of the Jadeja dynasty and the last Maharaja of Morvi) in India, where he spends part of each year.


Tara Browne's obit in The Times

His former house, Woodtown Manor, near Dublin was for many years a welcoming place for Irish poets, writers and musicians and which was associated with the folk-pop group Clannad, where they made many recordings of their music. When in Ireland, he lives at Luggala set deep in the Wicklow Mountains. The house has been variously described as a castle or hunting lodge of large proportions which he inherited from his mother. It is a wonderful gingerbread gothic building and has a wonderful private setting on its own lake, Lough Tay. Garech has put white sand around his black lake so that it resembles a glass of Guinness! Tara Browne is buried in the grounds.