History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Sadly, John Mayall a pioneer of British Blues, died on 22 July 2024 at his home in California and there have been numerous tributes in the media.  There is a double connection to West Hampstead. With his band The Bluesbreakers John played 33 times at Klooks Kleek, the jazz and blues club run by Dick Jordan and Geoff Williams on the first floor of the Railway Hotel in West Hampstead. He also recorded many albums at the Decca Studios in Broadhurst Gardens. The first was ‘Mayall Plays Mayall’ recorded at Klooks Kleek on 7 December 1964, when cables were run over to the next door studios. The band at this time was John Mayall (vocals, keyboards and harmonica), Roger Dean (guitar), John McVie (bass), Hughie Flint (drums) and Nigel Stanger on sax. John with his band playing at Klooks Kleek in May 1965. Photo by Paul Soper, used by kind permission. Probably the most famous album ‘Blues Breakers: John Mayall with Eric Clapton’, was made in Broadhurst Gardens in March 1966. The band was May...

The beast discovered ‘I was the first one to see it and I was very frightened because I couldn’t believe how big it was. I thought it was a leopard or something. It was the size of an Alsatian and about 4ft away from me’. On a Friday morning in May 2001, cleaner Carol Montague went to the home of Alan and Charlotte Newman in Hocroft Road (not the nearby Hocroft Avenue as generally reported), off the Hendon Way. It was her regular job, but it turned out to be far from an ordinary day, after she spotted the animal in their back garden. She immediately rang the police who didn’t take her seriously. But when she persisted, two policemen showed up and were startled to find what turned out to be a lynx on the Newman’s patio. Down the years in the UK, there have been and continue to be, many reports and photos, of what were described as large cats roaming the countryside. But few have ever been caught. The Hertfordshire area had some sightings in the 1990s, mostly in wooded areas. Then in 199...