Redlands & the Aftermath

Redlands: was the infamous home of Rolling Stone Keith Richards. Keith bought the property in 1966. There were two incidents which made Redlands part of The Rolling Stones lore: the 1967 bust and the fire in 1973. The Bust: It began on a quiet Sunday in February when Redlands, the Sussex country home of Stone’s guitarist Keith Richards was raided by a force of twenty police officers. Richards was hosting a weekend party attended by Mick Jagger the Stone’s singer, a couple of the Beatles and other friends and notables of swinging London.The raid came after a tip off by a tabloid newspaper. Jagger and Richards were busted for drug possession. The raid became known as the Redlands Bust.When the case came to trial the police luridly played up the image of Marianne Faithfull as Miss X wearing nothing but a fur rug which she deliberately “let fall” from time to time during the raid. Jagger and Richards were convicted and sentenced to prison for three and twelve months. There were many protests by Fans and others in the Pop community. The fire occured six years later. In August 1973, sometime in the early morning, the house burnt down. It was a desperate scene, with the dry thatch quickly going up in smoke above their heads. Keith and Anita managed to escape to the garden, where she apparently berated him while police and fire engines clanked up the lane. "Fucking hell, Keith! Fucking hell! the only reason for coming down here was so we could get some rest, and now look at it! Go on. Look at it!" "Not too good," Keith was forced to concede, as the roof fell in, sending up a shower of sparks, just as Spanish Tony managed to lug the huge refectory table out onto the lawn. Everyone spend the rest of the that night giving statement, and then dozing fitfully in the guest cottage. It would take three years to rebuild.
Keith with his dog Ratbag

Marianne's innocent image before the bust.

The day of the bust

Terry Southern: "Morning after the Redlands bust is what I make of this shot." Keith: "So it would appear." Terry: "I can just make out the headline: Naked Girl at Stones Party. And that girl was, correct me if I am wrong, a certain Ms. M. Faithfull. Keith: "Well, I believe it's a matter of, how do you say, public record. Actually she was covered with a fur coat" . Terry:" She may have flashed. Flashed the coppers." Keith: "Marianne? Not bloody likely." Terry: "Flashed the coppers to craze them, you see. She fabulously endowed by all accounts." Keith:"But it wouldn't be like Marianne to flash the coppers, or anyone else for that matter. Too much class. In fact, I think she had gone to bed and had the coat over her." Terry: "As a simple coverlet." Keith: "Exactly."

Girl in the Fur Rug collage

Anita and Brian visit Redlands



The Fire

Anita yelling at Keith

among the ruins
..among the things saved: the fur rug Marianne was wearing during the raid

Redlands now

(photos by Michael Cooper, from Faithfull, rollingstones.net, www.geocities.com/Heartland/Woods )