“the fabric you wore”: Edward Sexton, quoted in Stuart Husband, “Rock on Tommy,” The Independent on Sunday, March 5, 2006.
“little suits”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in O’Dwyer, “The World According to Tommy Nutter.”
“It was all very well”: David Taylor, “Pop Goes the Whistle and Flute,” Punch, March 30, 1977.
“boring establishment”: Edward Sexton to Alan Lewis, letter, June 1, 2000. JJC.
“If I don’t get whistled at and jeered”: Michael Fish, quoted in Nik Cohn, Today There Are No Gentlemen (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971), 145.
“for a man to wear about the house”: Geoffrey Aquilina Ross, The Day of the Peacock: Style for Men 1963–1973 (London: V&A Publishing, 2011), 113.
“a phenomenon”: Anthony King-Deacon, quoted in Ibid., 108.
“high priest”: Hardy Amies, The Englishman’s Suit (London: Quartet Books, 1994), 32.
“without losing”…“I felt I could”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Rob Ryan, “Tommy Nutter: Well Bespoke,” Arena, September 1989.
Tommy asked Michael Fish for a job: Geoffrey Aquilina Ross, “Who Needs Shows When You’re Your Own Shop Window?,” Evening Standard, March 14, 1973; Taylor, “Pop Goes the Whistle and Flute.”
“One feels almost a fool”: Clement Freud, quoted in Aquilina Ross, The Day of the Peacock, 73.
“a comely youth from Edgware”: Cohn, Today There Are No Gentlemen, 164.
“got into the whole scene”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Janet Buckton, “Nutter’s the Name They’re All Crazy About,” Coventry Evening Telegraph, August 26, 1980. Tommy also mentions the Ad Lib Club in “Tommy, the Natty Nutter,” Financial Times, September 16, 1978.
“It was where everybody went”…“paid dividends”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in David Spark, “The Stars Follow Tommy When It Comes to Fashion,” The Evening Mail, June 1, 1979.
“I supervised and conducted”: Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles (New York: New American Library, 2002), 160.
more West End than Bebington: Ibid., 57. See also Cilla Black, What’s It All About? (London: Ebury Press, 2003), 145: “He spoke real posh, much posher than Brian.”
“very special”…“I remember thinking”: Brown and Gaines, The Love You Make, 57.
“psychiatric grounds”: Ibid., 55.
an initial encounter: Mark Lewisohn, Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 1 (New York: Crown Archetype, 2013), 272.
“more popular than Jesus now”: John Lennon, quoted in Maureen Cleave, “How Does a Beatle Live? John Lennon Lives Like This,” Evening Standard, March 4, 1966. Lennon’s comments about Christianity in the article were republished around the world.
“It was ten o’clock on Friday night”: Brown and Gaines, The Love You Make, 246.
Juke Box Jury: Ibid.
“I said to break down the doors”: Ibid.
retreated into the closet: James Hogg and Robert Sellers, Hello Darlings!: The Authorized Biography of Kenny Everett (London: Bantam Press, 2013), 87. Peter discusses his relationship and breakup at length in this book, as well as his encounter with Tommy Nutter the day after Brian Epstein’s death.
“physical satisfaction in the saddest of ways”: Brown and Gaines, The Love You Make, 50.
“I have had Miss B. here”: Tommy Nutter to David Nutter, letter, July 3, 1978. DN.
nearly £500,000 on a five-story townhouse: Brown and Gaines, The Love You Make, 283. All of the descriptive details of Apple Corps are drawn from here.
an experimental track: The most detailed breakdown of the “Hey Jude” recording schedule is in Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle (New York: Harmony Books, 1992), 291–92. I also consulted Bob Spitz, The Beatles (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012), 782–84, 791–92.
“I was always a bit in limbo”: Paul McCartney, quoted in The Beatles Anthology (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2002), 297.
“the most incredible song”: Tommy Nutter, interviewed on My Kind of Music, BBC Radio Brighton, September 20, 1980. Peter’s recollection of this event was corroborated by Catherine Everest (née Butterworth), who heard it from Tommy himself in the 1980s.
“I don’t know, I can’t say why they did it”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Cohn, Today There Are No Gentlemen, 164–65.
oysters from Brittany, caviar from the Garonne: Anne Mason, “Dining with Madame Prunier in London,” The Age (Melbourne), February 9, 1960.
“In a once sedate world”: Piri Halasz, “You Can Walk Across It On the Grass,” Time, April 15, 1966.
he’d thrown her out of the Lewis’s department store: Black, What’s It All About?, 144–45.
“I watched her move”: Brian Epstein, A Cellarful of Noise (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964), 63–64.
“When an acquaintance had come up to me”: Black, What’s It All About?, 152.
“a big star”: Tommy Nutter, My Kind of Music interview.
“It’s going to be terribly posh”: Cilla Black, quoted in “Cilla of Savile Row,” Sunday Express, December 22, 1968.
INTERLUDE: CILLA AND BOBBY GET MARRIED
Interviews with: Peter Brown, David Nutter, Judith Wright (née Allera).
“I guess it’s on”: Cilla Black, What’s It All About? (London: Ebury Press, 2003), 172.
£8 burgundy dress, hastily shortened: “Cilla Gets Married in an £8 Dress,” Evening Standard, January 25, 1969.
FIVE: DISCOTHEQUE IN A GRAVEYARD
Interviews with: Louise Aron, Peter Brown, Angus Cundey, Simon Doonan, Carol Drinkwater, Tony King, Carlo Manzi, Joseph Morgan, David Nutter, Edward Sexton, Joan Sexton.
“Thomas Nutter is opening”: “Back to Square…,” Daily Mirror, February 12, 1969.
“elegant with a touch of the sombre”: Stanley Costin, “Bespoke Tailor,” Men’s Wear, January 27, 1972.
“People seem to think that our shop”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Prudence Glynn, “The Construction Business,” The Times, November 21, 1972.
“a riot of Royal Purple”: Stephen Higginson, “The Changing Face—and Pace—of Savile Row,” Men’s Wear, January 18, 1973.
“the idea of an ‘old look’ ”…“show what we do”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Ibid.
“a lot more relaxed”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in John Walker, “Mr. Nutter (aided by Cilla) Taking a Gamble in Savile Row,” Daily Sketch, January 9, 1969.
“something different”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in “Men in Vogue,” British Vogue, March 1969.
a group of Americans knocked on the door: Cilla Black recalled this incident during her opening-night address of “Tommy Nutter: Rebel on the Row,” an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London, on May 20, 2011 (youtube.com/watch?v=xZpHNUsnHDs). Accessed March 2, 2016.
Apple Corps doorman in a Nutters frock coat: Jimmy Clark, the Apple doorman, can be seen wearing a Nutters frock coat in Let It Be (1970) during the rooftop concert sequence.
wish him good night: Tommy Nutter, interviewed on My Kind of Music, BBC Radio Brighton, September 20, 1980.
“a bunch of East End gangsters”: Cilla Black, quoted in Stuart Husband, “Rock on Tommy,” The Independent on Sunday, March 5, 2006.
“God, I’ve never seen such big candles”: Ibid.
“masses of shape and flare”: Tommy Nutter, undated notes for an autobiography. DN.
“deep, deep”: Ibid.
“gallant Nutter character”: Fiona MacCarthy, “The Secret Life of Beau Nutter,” The Guardian, August 4, 1969.
“an eccentric mix”: David Taylor, “Pop Goes the Whistle and Flute,” Punch, March 30, 1977.
“ ‘New Look’ for menswear”: Tommy Nutter, undated notes for an autobiography. DN.
“louche-but-sharp flamboyance”: Stuart Husband, “Rock on Tommy.”
“I thought I w
ould play things down”: Tommy Nutter, undated notes for an autobiography. DN.
“should be as brief as wit”: Hardy Amies, ABC of Men’s Fashion (London: V&A Publications, 2007), 119.
“Imagine this”: “Welsh Savile Row Subversive Tommy Nutter Remembered by the Pembrokeshire Tailor Who Knew Him Best,” Wales Online (www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/welsh-savile-row-subversive-tommy-1810946). Accessed September 17, 2015.
“The customers were complaining”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Aileen Doherty, “Gentleman Jackson!,” Daily Mail, December 17, 1984.
“They are as big-mouthed as anyone”: John Lennon, quoted in an untitled newspaper clipping reproduced in the liner notes of Wedding Album, released on October 20, 1969, by Apple Records.
John and Yoko arrived in Gibraltar: Ray Connelly and Sam White, “It’s a White Wedding for John and Yoko!,” Evening Standard, March 20, 1969. Bob Spitz gives the time as 8:30 a.m. in The Beatles (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012), 826.
“an actress, painter and maker of a film”: “John Lennon Flies 2000 Miles to Marry Quietly,” The Times, March 21, 1969.
a coat that was made…from human hair: Connelly and White, “It’s a White Wedding.” The coat is plainly visible in several photos, although the true provenance of its hair is impossible to verify.
spent a restless night: Ibid.
“Marvelous tailor”…“Tommy Nutter is”: Hardy Amies, quoted in Walter Logan, “New, Exciting Tommy Nutter,” source unclear (truncated press clipping), undated, c. 1971. DN.
“Savile Row is a street of bespoke tailors”: Hardy Amies, The Englishman’s Suit (London: Quartet Books, 1994), 33.
“When I opened up in my own right”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Thom O’Dwyer, “The World According to Tommy Nutter,” HeLines, 1991.
“was regarded with suspicion”: Doherty, “Gentleman Jackson!”
“It’s amazing, but since we set up”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Costin, “Bespoke Tailor.”
“In fact, they were rather nice”: Tommy Nutter, My Kind of Music interview.
“Nutters is going to be extremely successful”: Robert Valentine, quoted in “Nutter’s Open Their Doors,” Tailor & Cutter, February 21, 1969. For a good overview of Valentine’s career, see his obituary in The Times, November 12, 1994.
“stylish brick”: “…Shops,” Men’s Wear, May 22, 1969. Angus Cundey credited Nutters as the inspiration for this drastic change at Henry Poole & Co. during our interview.
“I would like to see this stuffy image”: Angus Cundey, quoted in “Trying to Change an Image—Without Losing Quality,” Men’s Wear, April 23, 1970.
“Savile Row today is in a rare state”: Richard Walker, “Lincroft Doyen in the New Style of Savile Row,” The Daily Telegraph, June 25, 1971.
“making a comeback”: John Walker, “Mr. Nutter (Aided by Cilla) Taking a Gamble in Savile Row,” Daily Sketch, January 9, 1969.
“Don’t ask me for a list of names”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in “There’s Nothing Naff About Nutters,” Evening Standard, November 1, 1969.
“Are you sure the sleeve’s not wrinkled?”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in MacCarthy, “Secret Life.” All quotes concerning MacCarthy come from this article.
SIX: A COMPLETE LOOK
Interviews with: Manolo Blahnik, Peter Brown, Roy Chittleborough, Garry Clarke, Mel Furukawa, Stewart Grimshaw, Joseph Morgan, Prince Rajsinh of Rajpipla, Edward Sexton, Joan Sexton, Peter Sprecher, Christopher Tarling, James Vallance White, Judith Wright (née Allera), Zance Yianni.
“Come on”…“not posing for Beatles pictures”: John Lennon, quoted in Bob Spitz, The Beatles (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012), 842.
didn’t feel like wearing shoes: The Beatles Anthology (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2002), 341–43. Most details about the Abbey Road shoot are drawn from this book, which features primary interviews with the band members, Derek Taylor, and George Martin. I also examined Linda McCartney’s behind-the-scenes photographs.
the business Tommy had expected in a year: Deborah Murdoch, “How Tommy Whizzed into Savile Row,” Daily Mail, January 20, 1970. Tommy made the same claim in “The Ministry of Works Was Not for Me, Savile Row Was,” Men’s Wear, April 16, 1970.
470 of them to Americans: “It’s Much Nicer at Nutters,” promotional booklet, 1970. DN.
“It’s been very hard work”: Edward Sexton, quoted in Pamela Buonaventura, “Tommy Nutter,” Style, May 23, 1970.
“I haven’t been for ages”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Ibid.
Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show: “It’s Much Nicer at Nutters.”
“Mrs. Ronald Reagan”: Ibid.
eight summer suits: “Up at Citizen Stigwood’s Place,” Evening Standard, March 8, 1969.
Provans: Details come from Derek Granger, “Obituary: Fergus Provans,” The Independent, August 28, 1997. I also drew from conversations with Prince Rajsinh of Rajpipla and Stewart Grimshaw.
made a signature out of braiding: “The Sun Shines on Braided Suits,” Style, May 30, 1970.
“A tailor should not be scared”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in “The Ministry of Works Was Not for Me.”
“the place for men’s clothes…“now in the class”: Murdoch, “How Tommy Whizzed into Savile Row.”
“one of the best”: Douglas Hayward, quoted in “Cottage Pie in Mayfair,” Evening Standard, April 4, 1970.
“the way I like to see them”…“It’s very nice”: “It’s Much Nicer at Nutters.”
“a comprehensive cross section of the public”: “The Ministry of Works Was Not for Me.”
At least two of them were over seventy years old: Murdoch, “How Tommy Whizzed into Savile Row.”
he did a double take: Peter Sprecher, recorded interview with Dominic Sebag-Montefiore, May 20, 2011. This whole exchange comes from this interview, supplemented with my own phone interview with Peter Sprecher on April 26, 2016.
Henry George Poole had been a young dilettante: My account is based on Richard Walker, The Savile Row Story: An Illustrated History (London: Prion, 1988), 50–53. See also Stephen Howarth, Henry Poole: Founders of Savile Row: The Making of a Legend (London: Bene Factum Publishing, 2003), 25–28.
“definitely not the kind of tailor”: Pamela Buonaventura, “Tommy Nutter,” Style, May 23, 1970.
“part engineer, part scientist”: Edward Sexton, quoted in Stuart Husband, “Rock on Tommy,” The Independent on Sunday, March 5, 2006.
all of them under thirty: John Walker, “Mr. Nutter (Aided by Cilla) Taking a Gamble in Savile Row,” Daily Sketch, January 9, 1969.
they’d all lived within the limitations: “It’s Much Nicer at Nutters.”
Polari: A good overview and short glossary is provided by Alkarim Jivani, It’s Not Unusual: A History of Lesbian and Gay Britain in the Twentieth Century (London: Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 1997), 14–15. Much of the Polari popularized in Britain came via a BBC Radio program, Round the Horne, which was broadcast between 1965 and 1968. The scripts read like a Polari dictionary: see Barry Took and Mat Coward, The Best of Round the Horne (London: Boxtree, 2000).
“a director of Nutters”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in Murdoch, “How Tommy Whizzed into Savile Row.”
original abstract paintings: Tommy discusses the den decorations in Buonaventura, “Tommy Nutter.”
a tweed knickerbocker suit: “Thomas Nutter” (news spot), Daily Mail, October 16, 1970.
“It turned out just the way you’d expect”: Aileen Mehle, “Suzy Knickerbocker,” syndicated society column, October 24, 1970.
awkward-looking threesome: A photograph of the trio descending the stairs at the Plaza Hotel appears in Herrenjournal, October 1970.
“a cheery, cheeky, insouciant sort of look”: “Checking Out the Men,” Vogue, November 1970.
“Many Savile Row tailors”: Tommy Nutter,
quoted in “Now It’s Savile Row’s Turn to Diversify,” Men’s Wear, December 17, 1970.
chrome scaffolding: Anne Trehearne, “New Shop for Show-Offs,” Evening Standard, December 11, 1970.
“There’s no limit to what we’ll sell”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in “New Nutter Shop to Open in Savile Row,” Men’s Wear, November 19, 1970.
Tommy’s particular taste: The Nutters Shirts stock was described to me by Christopher Tarling. It is also sketched out in several articles: “New Nutter Shop to Open in Savile Row”; “Xmas Opening for Nutters,” Style, November 21, 1970; Trehearne, “New Shop for Show-Offs,” Evening Standard, December 11, 1970; “Shirts in Savile Row,” Men’s Wear, December 17, 1970; and Stanley Costin, “Tommy Nutter—New Boy in Savile Row,” Men’s Wear, January 27, 1972.
“full wardrobes with a complete look and style”: Tommy Nutter, quoted in “New Nutter Shop to Open in Savile Row.”
SEVEN: BLOW-UP
Interviews with: Peter Brown, Stewart Grimshaw, Kim Grossman, Carlo Manzi, David Nutter, Edward Sexton, Joan Sexton, Christopher Tarling.
“The common denominator of all the winners”: Eugenia Sheppard, “Inside Fashion,” New York Post, January 11, 1971.
“A Gentleman’s Year”: “A Gentleman’s Year,” Vogue, January 1971.
it had been coming for a while: Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles (New York: New American Library, 2002), 348.
“a mausoleum just waiting for a death”: Ibid., 324. In his book, Peter discusses the dirty work he did for Klein at length, including the mass firing: “I unhappily agreed to do the job only because I hoped the news could be delivered with kindness and dignity, instead of from Klein’s mouth” (p. 322).
“I have had an experience which has been invaluable”: Peter Brown, quoted in Frankie McGowan, column, The Evening News, January 27, 1971.
Cilla threw her friend a farewell party: Ibid.
“[Peter] is, at 33, unmarried”: Ibid.
“unusual”…“desperately untidy”: Bridie Mullen, quoted in Yvonne Thomas, “The Other Man in Bridie’s Life,” Evening Standard, January 6, 1971. All details about Tommy’s new flat come from this article and its accompanying photographs.
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