Tom Keylock
Tom Keylock was born on August 9th, 1926 in North London. He served during WW2 and fought at the Battle of Arnheim and after the war in Palestine. During this time he was injured requiring skin grafts to his face, taken from his leg and back-side. He was discharged in 1948 and returned to London where he worked as a driver, setting up his own car-hire and taxi service. During this time he developed a tough guile and shrewdness. It was in 1965 that a call to take two men to Heathrow airport that his life would change.
The duo Tom Keylock ferried to Heathrow airport were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The pair were amazed with Keylock's ability to dodge traffic, fans and paparazzi alike and he was offered a full-time job on the spot.
Tom Keylock was reticent to accept as he was not sure about working for a group considered public enemy number one at the time. His wife, Joan, was even more appalled with the idea, but The Rolling Stones gave him a month to consider their offer. After meeting The Stones again he came to appreciate their irreverence and finally accepted their job offer. As he said to the biographer Christopher Sandford in his book Mick Jagger: Rebel Knight -
I'd had plastic surgery on me nose and on me face when I'd been in the Army. And I'd had this skin graft from the side of me leg and me backside on to me face. When I told Mick about it, he said, ‘So that's why you talk so much shit'
Keylock's worldly-wise experience proved itself many times during his time with The Rolling Stones. Tom Keylock began driving the group on their tour of Britain in the autumn of 1965, but his other skills became evident to the group. Tom Keylock loved the challenge of getting The Rolling Stones between locations in the ever more chaotic world of The Rolling Stones. His operation to get The Stones from their Manchester hotel to venue without being mobbed by fans, involved back stairways, fire escapes and decoy vehicles and obviously impressed Bill Wyman, who mentioned it in his book.
Tom Keylock was also hugely loyal to his employers and took on all manner of responsibilities, getting the nickname "Mr Get-It-Together" and by 1966 he was highly regarded within The Stones camp. So when Bob Dylan toured the UK, on Keith Richards suggestion, Tom Keylock looked after him. Seemingly regardless of who was employing him, he was loyal and administered a "good kicking" to a Glasgow waiter who thought it would be wise to tell Dylan he was a "traitor" to folk music when delivering room service.
Tom Keylock even went as far as protecting Dylan from The Rolling Stones. During a drunken exchange, The Stones were on the brink of responding violently to Dylan telling them that while he could easily have written Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones could never write something as good as Mr Tambourine Man. Keylock quickly hustled him out of the way before the incident could get any uglier.
Tom Keylock's duties quickly expanded to include bodyguard, cook and procurer, which with The Rolling Stones tastes could be challenging. As the attention The Rolling Stones generated intensified and by the end of his time with The Rolling Stones he was their road manager and in charge of security. He took it all seriously and personally, in an interview with Classic Rock he said
You had so many hangers-on, ponces. I tried to keep them away.....I once got Brian (Jones) a chauffeur called Brian Palastanga. He's dead now. He stole two cameras off Brian. I knocked his fillings (teeth) out and sacked him on the spot.
He was there during the various scrapes with police and law courts following The Rolling Stones various drug busts in 1967 and being older he was also seen as a father figure to members of the band, often being asked for advice. Brian Jones even claimed that if he and Joan (Tom Keylock's wife) had been his parents he would not have been so mixed up. He was even asked to join the backing chorus during the recording of "Sympathy For The Devil"
This near parental relationship with The Rolling Stones was extended to sorting out internal disputes too. It was during the period between the drug busts and court dates that saw one of the most notorious fall-outs between The Stones.
As the band left the UK for Morocco to escape the limelight, Tom Keylock was the man who drove them across Europe to North Africa in,
Tom Keylock was born on August 9th, 1926 in North London. He served during WW2 and fought at the Battle of Arnheim and after the war in Palestine. During this time he was injured requiring skin grafts to his face, taken from his leg and back-side. He was discharged in 1948 and returned to London where he worked as a driver, setting up his own car-hire and taxi service. During this time he developed a tough guile and shrewdness. It was in 1965 that a call to take two men to Heathrow airport that his life would change.
The duo Tom Keylock ferried to Heathrow airport were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The pair were amazed with Keylock's ability to dodge traffic, fans and paparazzi alike and he was offered a full-time job on the spot.
Tom Keylock was reticent to accept as he was not sure about working for a group considered public enemy number one at the time. His wife, Joan, was even more appalled with the idea, but The Rolling Stones gave him a month to consider their offer. After meeting The Stones again he came to appreciate their irreverence and finally accepted their job offer. As he said to the biographer Christopher Sandford in his book Mick Jagger: Rebel Knight:
"I'd had plastic surgery on me nose and on me face when I'd been in the Army. And I'd had this skin graft from the side of me leg and me backside on to me face. When I told Mick about it, he said, ‘So that's why you talk so much shit'."
Keylock's worldly-wise experience proved itself many times during his time with The Rolling Stones. Tom Keylock began driving the group on their tour of Britain in the autumn of 1965, but his other skills became evident to the group. Tom Keylock loved the challenge of getting The Rolling Stones between locations in the ever more chaotic world of The Rolling Stones. His operation to get The Stones from their Manchester hotel to venue without being mobbed by fans, involved back stairways, fire escapes and decoy vehicles and obviously impressed Bill Wyman, who mentioned it in his book.
Tom Keylock was also hugely loyal to his employers and took on all manner of responsibilities, getting the nickname "Mr Get-It-Together" and by 1966 he was highly regarded within The Stones camp. So when Bob Dylan toured the UK, on Keith Richards suggestion, Tom Keylock looked after him. Seemingly regardless of who was employing him, he was loyal and administered a "good kicking" to a Glasgow waiter who thought it would be wise to tell Dylan he was a "traitor" to folk music when delivering room service.
Tom Keylock even went as far as protecting Dylan from The Rolling Stones. During a drunken exchange, The Stones were on the brink of responding violently to Dylan telling them that while he could easily have written Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones could never write something as good as Mr Tambourine Man. Keylock quickly hustled him out of the way before the incident could get any uglier.
Tom Keylock's duties quickly expanded to include bodyguard, cook and procurer, which with The Rolling Stones tastes could be challenging. As the attention The Rolling Stones generated intensified and by the end of his time with The Rolling Stones he was their road manager and in charge of security. He took it all seriously and personally, in an interview with Classic Rock he said
You had so many hangers-on, ponces. I tried to keep them away.....I once got Brian (Jones) a chauffeur called Brian Palastanga. He's dead now. He stole two cameras off Brian. I knocked his fillings (teeth) out and sacked him on the spot.
He was there during the various scrapes with police and law courts following The Rolling Stones various drug busts in 1967 and being older he was also seen as a father figure to members of the band, often being asked for advice. Brian Jones even claimed that if he and Joan (Tom Keylock's wife) had been his parents he would not have been so mixed up. He was even asked to join the backing chorus during the recording of "Sympathy For The Devil"
This near parental relationship with The Rolling Stones was extended to sorting out internal disputes too. It was during the period between the drug busts and court dates that saw one of the most notorious fall-outs between The Stones.
As the band left the UK for Morocco to escape the limelight, Tom Keylock was the man who drove them across Europe to North Africa in, "the Blue Lena", Keith Richards' Bentley. Brian Jones fell ill and had to be left in a hospital in Toulouse. It was as Tom Keylock drove on through France and Spain that Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg (then Brian Jones's girlfriend) relationship sparked up. Barely able to keep his eyes on the road while Richards became intimate with Anita Pallenberg on the back seat, he drove on to Morocco via Gibraltar.
When Brian Jones recovered and met up with the rest of the band in Marrakesh, he was left behind again after he beat Anita Pallenberg when she would not sleep with him and some prostitutes he had picked up. In the words of Tom Keylock
I said, "If you ever do that again I'll punch your lights out. You don't go round hitting women, it ain't on." He said "I don't know what came into me." It's no use putting it down to pills this time, he knew what he was doing so: "In the car"and Brian Jones was abandoned again, this time in Marrakesh.
It was Brian Jones who would also be the focus for the most public role of Tom Keylock's time with The Rolling Stones. Brian Jones had become a marginalized figure in The Rolling Stones In late 1968 he bought Cotchford Farm in the Sussex countryside. Tom Keylock was asked to keep an eye on Brian Jones and Tom Keylock recommended his friend Frank Thorogood as the builder to do the renovation work.
Shortly after Brian Jones left The Rolling Stones, he was found dead, drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool. It is now a widely held belief that the man Tom Keylock recommended was the man that killed Brian Jones. Tom Keylock even said that on his deathbed Frank Thorogood had confessed to this, but died before he could get the full story.
Tom Keylock was the first person on the scene from The Rolling Stones. He immediately took charge, burning many of Brian Jones' personal effects and clothes (allegedly at the behest of his family) and then spiriting away Brian Jones's girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, to prevent the media getting to her.
A few days after Brian Jones death, The Rolling Stones played a huge, free gig in Hyde Park. Granada TV made a documentary of the event, showing Tom Keylock's style of road management. If genial Ian Stewart was the "good cop" side of The Rolling Stones road management then Tom Keylock,was the bad. The documentary The Stones In The Park gives an insight into just how Tom Keylock got things done.
Surrounded by Nazi-helmeted Hell's Angels employed as the "security" for the 1969 free Stones concert in Hyde Park, Keylock outlines to them how he thinks the day will proceed. It is, he explains, a peaceful crowd who have come to see the The Rolling Stones - there should be no need for rough stuff,
For the boys sake no punch ups. Later on if you wanna have a punch up with me one at a time, when I've got a twelve bore shotgun, then we're all happy
He was also the man that released the white butterflies during the dedication to Brian Jones. This was to be one of his last acts for The Rolling Stones. Shortly after Brian Jones funeralhe left The Rolling Stones employ and set up his transport company again.
Tom Keylock was a keen football fan who was at one time chairman of Beaconsfield FC. During the 1980s he worked for the England soccer team, as the kit man. He would transport the kit and lay it out for the players in the Wembley dressing room before a game.
In 2004 he acted as a consultant on the film "Stoned", on the life of Brian Jones in which Tom Keylock was played by David Morrissey.
Tom Keylock died peacefully on July 2, 2009, aged 82, survived by his wife Joan, to whom he was married in 1951, and by four daughters. the Blue Lena", Keith Richards' Bentley. Brian Jones fell ill and had to be left in a hospital in Toulouse. It was as Tom Keylock drove on through France and Spain that Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg (then Brian Jones's girlfriend) relationship sparked up. Barely able to keep his eyes on the road while Richards became intimate with Anita Pallenberg on the back seat, he drove on to Morocco via Gibraltar.
When Brian Jones recovered and met up with the rest of the band in Marrakesh, he was left behind again after he beat Anita Pallenberg when she would not sleep with him and some prostitutes he had picked up. In the words of Tom Keylock
I said, "If you ever do that again I'll punch your lights out. You don't go round hitting women, it ain't on." He said "I don't know what came into me." It's no use putting it down to pills this time, he knew what he was doing so: "In the car"and Brian Jones was abandoned again, this time in Marrakesh.
It was Brian Jones who would also be the focus for the most public role of Tom Keylock's time with The Rolling Stones. Brian Jones had become a marginalized figure in The Rolling Stones In late 1968 he bought Cotchford Farm in the Sussex countryside. Tom Keylock was asked to keep an eye on Brian Jones and Tom Keylock recommended his friend Frank Thorogood as the builder to do the renovation work.
Shortly after Brian Jones left The Rolling Stones, he was found dead, drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool. It is now a widely held belief that the man Tom Keylock recommended was the man that killed Brian Jones. Tom Keylock even said that on his deathbed Frank Thorogood had confessed to this, but died before he could get the full story.
Tom Keylock was the first person on the scene from The Rolling Stones. He immediately took charge, burning many of Brian Jones' personal effects and clothes (allegedly at the behest of his family) and then spiriting away Brian Jones's girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, to prevent the media getting to her.
A few days after Brian Jones death, The Rolling Stones played a huge, free gig in Hyde Park. Granada TV made a documentary of the event, showing Tom Keylock's style of road management. If genial Ian Stewart was the "good cop" side of The Rolling Stones road management then Tom Keylock,was the bad. The documentary The Stones In The Park gives an insight into just how Tom Keylock got things done.
Surrounded by Nazi-helmeted Hell's Angels employed as the "security" for the 1969 free Stones concert in Hyde Park, Keylock outlines to them how he thinks the day will proceed. It is, he explains, a peaceful crowd who have come to see the The Rolling Stones - there should be no need for rough stuff,
For the boys sake no punch ups. Later on if you wanna have a punch up with me one at a time, when I've got a twelve bore shotgun, then we're all happy
He was also the man that released the white butterflies during the dedication to Brian Jones. This was to be one of his last acts for The Rolling Stones. Shortly after Brian Jones funeralhe left The Rolling Stones employ and set up his transport company again.
Tom Keylock was a keen football fan who was at one time chairman of Beaconsfield FC. During the 1980s he worked for the England soccer team, as the kit man. He would transport the kit and lay it out for the players in the Wembley dressing room before a game.
In 2004 he acted as a consultant on the film "Stoned", on the life of Brian Jones in which Tom Keylock was played by David Morrissey.
Tom Keylock died peacefully on July 2, 2009, aged 82, survived by his wife Joan, to whom he was married in 1951, and by four daughters.
The History of Tom Keylock
Brian Jones Funeral held in his home town of Cheltenham
Lewis Brian Jones was buried in his home town of Cheltenham on July 10th, 1969. The funeral service was held at St Mary’s Parish Church and he was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery.
Before the funeral, fans had already sent enough flowers to fill the cemetery, including a guitar shaped arrangement from Brian’s family and a huge arrangement spelling out “Gates of Heaven” from The Rolling Stones.
On the day of the funeral the town was besieged with tearful fans, curious onlookers and swarms of press photographers. The 14-car funeral procession crawled to the cemetery at a pace even more stately than usual as its progress was blocked by the surging crowds.
Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones dies in his Swimming Pool
As 1968 drew to a close, Brian Jones did what all rock-stars now do and bought himself a country retreat. Cotchford Farm is a country manor house in the East Sussex countryside, formerly owned by A. A. Milne, author of the Winnie The Pooh books, and included a large outdoor swimming pool.
Around midnight on July 2nd, Brian Jones was found at the bottom of his swimming pool in mysterious circumstances. All attempts to revive him failed. He was 27.
The coroners report found that while Brian Jones had been drinking there was no evidence of hard drugs in his system. However the police investigation and coroners report have left many unanswered questions, but the verdict to this day remains that Brian Jones died through misadventure.
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