Tommy Weber
Tommy Weber had an ingrained loathing for authority, yet the right accent to charm anyone in polite society. He was born in Denmark as Thomas Ejnar Arkner, however he was brought to England by his mother after WW2 and grew up Tommy Weber on a farm once owned by Charles Darwin.
He attended some of the best public schools (which ironically means private in the British school system) in the country before moving to London as one of the most eligible bachelors of the time. There he met and married Susan Ann Caroline Coriat, better known as "Puss", when she was just 17. Soon after they had two sons Jake, the oldest, and Charlie, also known as "Boo Boo". Tommy Weber then followed in the footsteps of one of his former schoolmates, Sterling Moss, and took up motor-racing.
He moved up through the classes and became a professional driver, one of the few "jobs" acceptable for someone of his background. Unfortunately, just as he was about to hit the heights of Formula One, his career was cut short when he was involved in a road accident, breaking his neck. Upon recovery he was persuaded by Puss to give up motor-racing.
To occupy his time he moved into the music world, putting together Osibisa, a Nigerian/Ghanaian rock band. He also took the family firm of tea and spice importers into new and untested territory. Exploiting their connections in the far reaches of Asia he began importing hashish from Afghanistan.
After splitting from Puss, he spent much time on the scene with many of the most glamorous women in the world and at the time of Mick Jagger's wedding, had just parted company with Charlotte Rampling.
He had met The Rolling Stones and become a friend as a fixture of the Swinging London scene and was dubbed "Tommy the Tumbling Dice" by Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg. To this point Tommy Weber was nothing more than one of the Swinging London scene and not a close member of The Stones entourage. Shocking as this may seem this stunt granted Tommy (later dubbed "Tumbling Dice" by Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg) huge cachet with Keith Richards.
Tommy Weber was also hoping to reconcile with Puss as she was due to be coming down to the Cote d'Azur when she got out of rehab. Unbeknown to Keith or Tommy, while Anita and Puss had been in rehab together back in London before Anita came over to France they had an affair and the two were now lovers. So Puss was probably coming to see Anita rather than Tommy, however she would never make it this far.
Upon leaving rehab, Puss discovered that her mother had certified her and the public trustee appointed to look after her money refused to give her access to her passport. Already in a fragile state having been in rehab and with her psychiatrist prescribing her some fairly heavy medication, this was more than she could take. She checked herself, her pills and a few bottles of champagne into a hotel and the beautiful, wealthy, 24 year old Puss committed suicide.
Weber was devastated and Keith Richards and Anita rallied round, inviting him to stay at Nellcote for as long as he wanted. He became a feature on the scene at Nellcote during the making of Exile on Main Street. While there he was given the task of starting Radio Rolling Stone by Keith Richards. This was anotehr of the well thought out schemes of the summer of 1971 by various members of The Rolling Stones. The plan was to set up a pirate radio station to broadcast The Rolling Stones music across the world.
While always a welcome guest at Nellcote and the source of many amusing anecdotes he was not universally liked. Mick Taylor's wife, Rose described him as, "a sychophant - definitely just another of the court jesters" and Andy Johns, who considered him a distraction from the job of getting Exile on Main Street made, said, "a very typical, very dodgy weasel boy." Of the Nellcote regulars, Spanish Tony was the most critical as he was his rival in providing the chemicals to The Rolling Stones.
After the fallout from Nellcote, he never returned to France, but went on to lead a truly weird and wonderful life, before finally ending his time on this earth in 2006.
Robert Greenfield's book A Day in the Life: One Family, the Beautiful People, and the End of the Sixties talks about Tommy Weber and Puss's lives in the 1960s and is a fantastic read.
The History of Tommy Weber
Mick Jagger Marries Bianca Macias in St Tropez
On May 12th, 1971, Mick Jagger and Bianca Macias tie the knot in a Roman Catholic ceremony at St. Anne’s Church in St. Tropez in the south of France. Mick Jagger had been studying Catholicism with the pastor of St. Anne’s, Abbe Lucien Baud so they could have an altar wedding after the civil ceremony. With the sun shining on the Cote d’Azur, it all looked like everything was set for the perfect wedding, but this was The Rolling Stones…
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