Every Picture Tells A Story

The nostalgia just keeps on coming, pop pickers, and this time we look at the music and clubs which defined an era.

IN 1972 rock and pop superstar Rod Stewart arrived in Winkfield near Windsor with model girlfriend Dee Harrington to look at a property he was thinking of buying after his accountant had wisely advised him to turn too much ready cash into substantial bricks and mortar.

In his candid book, Rod: The Autobiography, he recalls how the current owner of Cranbourne Court, Lord Bethell, appeared to have fallen on hard times, with Dee quietly noting his near threadbare trousers. Rod bought the 18th century Grade II listed stucco-faced mansion and its 17 acres of gardens and paddocks for £89,000.

Previous residents had included Admiral Sir Charles Rowley (18th century Commander in chief of the Navy at Portsmouth), General Sir Thomas Willshire (he served in Anglo-Spanish and Peninsular Wars) and the Victorian actress Edna May, who had retired there. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and their families rented it for the summer of 1961 while filming ‘The Road to Hong Kong’, and actress Sophia Loren had been a regular visitor.