
Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
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Head of Department
Provenance:
From the collection of Richard Barnes, who was Pete Townshend's sixties art school flatmate. Barnes ran the Railway Hotel in 1964 where The Who had a residency. It was at this historic venue that Townshend first smashed his guitar and where managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp first met the band. Barnes was the Who's first official biographer with his best-selling book 'The Who: Maximum R&B', first released in 1983.
The High Numbers played regularly at this venue in north west London, the club having been initiated by harmonica player Cyril Davies, a pioneer of British R & B. It was here that Christ Stamp and Kit Lambert first saw the band, and also here that Pete accidentally damaged his guitar on the low ceiling above the stage, prompting the band's destruction of their instruments.