I would like to say a huge thank you to my superb solicitors, John Whelan and Alison Quinn of A&L Goodbody. And I am grateful to former Sunday Tribune editor Noirin Hegarty and magazine editor Fionnuala McCarthy for commissioning the original feature about Tara Browne.
Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Mary McCarthy, who for ten years has borne my obsession with telling this story with good cheer and who kept me going with encouraging words and excellent breakfasts. Mary, I am sorry for all the times I was absent, either physically or mentally, while writing this book. For your patience and your understanding, there are no words, other than I love you.
Index
Aberfan disaster 1966, ref1
Ad Lib club, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Adler, Stella, ref1
Algeria, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Amis, Kingsley, ref1, ref2
Andrews, Pat, ref1
Animals, The, ref1, ref2
anti-Semitism, ref1
Antibes Jazz Festival, ref1
Apple Tailoring, ref1, ref2
aristocracy
new, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
old, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13
Armstrong, Louis, ref1
Armstrong-Jones, Anthony, first Earl of Snowdon, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
art, ref1, ref2
Asher, Jane, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Ashley, April (formerly George Jamieson), ref1, ref2, ref3
Astaire, Fred, ref1, ref2
Autosport magazine, ref1, ref2
Bach, Johann Sebastian, ref1, ref2
Bailey, David, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Baldwin, Betty, ref1, ref2
Baldwin, Stanley, ref1, ref2
Balenciaga, Cristobel, ref1
Balfour, A. J., ref1
Ballcock and Browne, ref1
Balthus, ref1
Barry, Margaret, ref1
Bazaar (boutique), ref1, ref2
BBC, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Beach Boys, The, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Pet Sounds, ref1, ref2, ref3
Beardsley, Aubrey, ref1
Beat Music (Merseybeat), ref1, ref2, ref3
Beat the Devil (1953), ref1, ref2
Beatlemania, ref1, ref2, ref3
Beatles, The, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20
‘A Day in the Life’, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
A Hard Day’s Night, ref1, ref2
Anthology, ref1
‘From Me to You’, ref1, ref2
‘Getting Better’, ref1
‘Help!’, ref1, ref2
Help! (1965), ref1, ref2
‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’, ref1, ref2
‘Love Me Do’, ref1, ref2
‘Please Please Me’, ref1, ref2
Please Please Me, ref1
Revolver, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Rubber Soul, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, ref1, ref2, ref3
‘She Loves You’, ref1, ref2
Beaton, Cecil, ref1, ref2, ref3
bebop, ref1
Bee Gees, The, ref1
Beeby, Michael, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Behan, Beatrice, ref1, ref2, ref3
Behan, Brendan, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19
Borstal Boy, ref1
death, ref1
‘Herod Complex’, ref1
The Hostage, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Behan, Dominic, ref1
Beit, Sir Alfred, ref1, ref2, ref3
Belmondo, Jean-Paul, ref1
Belville, Hercules, ref1, ref2
Bernstein, Sidney, ref1
Berry, Chuck, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Best, Pete, ref1
Bet-Zuri, Eliyahu, ref1
Betjeman, Candida, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Betjeman, John, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Biggs, Ronnie, ref1
Binder, Douglas, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Bishop, Molly, ref1
Blackman, Margaret, ref1
Blackshirts, ref1
Blackwood, Lady Caroline, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Blakey, Art, ref1
Bogart, Humphrey, ref1, ref2
Bond, James, ref1, ref2
Bonnano, Joseph, ref1, ref2
Boone, Steve, ref1
Bowie, David, ref1
Boyd, Patti, ref1, ref2
Boyle, Michael, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Brady, Ian, ref1
Brands Hatch, ref1, ref2
Brennan, Diarmuid, ref1
Bright Young People, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12
Brinckman, Napoleon, ref1
Brinckman, Theodora, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Brodie, Reverend Hugh, ref1, ref2, ref3
Brodie, Lettice, ref1
Brodie, Philip, ref1
Brook, Charles Vyner, ref1
Brougham, Victor, ref1, ref2
Brown, Clifford, ref1, ref2
Brown, Oscar, Junior, ref1, ref2
Browne, Baby, ref1, ref2, ref3
Browne, Brigit/Brigid, ref1, ref2
Browne, Constance Vera, Baroness Oranmore and Browne (née Constance Stevens; also Sally Gray), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Browne, Dominick, first Baron Oranmore and Browne (Tara’s great-great-grandfather), ref1
Browne, Dominick (Tara’s half-brother), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Browne, Dominick Geoffrey Edward, fourth Baron Oranmore and Browne, second Baron Mereworth (Tara’s father), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21, ref22, ref23, ref24, ref25, ref26, ref27, ref28, ref29, ref30, ref31, ref32, ref33
Browne, the Honourable Garech Domnagh (Tara’s brother), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18
adultery, ref1
birth, ref1, ref2
childhood and teenage years, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
and the Claddagh Records label, ref1, ref2
different nature from Tara, ref1, ref2
education, ref1
on the end of Tara’s marriage, ref1
and his mother’s death, ref1
on his mother’s scrutiny of Nicki Browne, ref1, ref2
and his twin ‘siblings’, ref1
and step-father Miguel Ferreras, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15
and Tara’s death, ref1, ref2, ref3
on Tara’s marriage, ref1
and Tara’s twenty-first-birthday party, ref1
teenage romance, ref1
twenty-first birthday, ref1
Browne, Geoffrey, third Lord Oranmore and Browne, first Baron Mereworth (Tara’s paternal grandfather), ref1, ref2
Browne, Dr Ivor, ref1
Browne, Judith, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Browne, Martin, ref1
Browne (née MacSherry), Nicki (Tara’s wife), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
amphetamine dealer, ref1, ref2
birth of her first son, Dorian, ref1, ref2
birth of her second son, Julian, ref1
on Deacon’s influence over Tara, ref1, ref2
early days of her relationship with Tara, ref1, ref2, ref3
engagement to Tara, ref1
financial allowance from Maureen Guinness, ref1
first pregnancy, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
infidelity, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
marital disintegration and divorce, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
marital strain, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
married life, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19
on Miguel, ref1
models for Vogue, ref1
on the Paris riots, ref1, ref2
permanently loses custody of her children to Oonagh, ref1, ref2, ref3
second pregnancy, ref1, ref2, ref3
settles in Marbella, ref1, ref2
and Tara’s affair with Amanda Lear, ref1, ref2, ref3
and Tara’s death, ref1, ref2, ref3
on Tara’s schooling, ref1, ref2
testimony to Tara, ref1, ref2
wedding, ref1, ref2, ref3
Browne, Olwen Verena, Lady Oranmore and Browne, ref1, ref2
Browne, Oonagh, Lady Oranmore and Browne (Tara’s mother), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
adopts Mexican twins, ref1
affair with Robert Kee, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
and Amanda Lear, ref1, ref2, ref3
attractiveness, ref1
and Beat the Devil (1953), ref1
birth, ref1
bond with Tara, ref1, ref2
and Brendan Behan, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
and the Bright Young People, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
character, ref1
closeness to niece Caroline, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
coming out, ref1
cruel side, ref1
and daughter Tessa’s death, ref1, ref2
dictatorial nature, ref1
dislike of boring people, ref1
drinking, ref1, ref2
and the Dublin Horse Show, ref1
family, ref1
first romance, ref1
fortieth birthday, ref1
friendship with Derek Lindsay, ref1, ref2
and Garech’s birth, ref1
and Gay’s marriage to Magsie, ref1
global family sailing trip, ref1
and Godard Lieberson, ref1
and her father’s death, ref1, ref2
home, Luggala Lodge, ref1, ref2
on homework, ref1
John Huston on, ref1
lack of social prejudice, ref1
loses custody of son Gay, ref1
and the Luggala fire, ref1, ref2, ref3
marriages, ref1
first, Philip Kindersley, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
second, Dom Browne, ref1, ref2, ref3
third, Miguel Ferreras, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21, ref22, ref23, ref24, ref25
Melissa North on, ref1, ref2, ref3
and Nicki Browne, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16
pregnant with fourth child, loses the baby, ref1, ref2
and Rabea Redpath, ref1
renowned hostess, ref1
takes Tara to see Psycho, ref1
favouritism towards Tara, ref1, ref2, ref3
fractures in her relationship with Tara, ref1
and Tara’s death, ref1, ref2
and Tara’s driving, ref1, ref2
and Tara’s tutors, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
and Tara’s twenty-first birthday, ref1, ref2, ref3
views Tara as her miracle baby, ref1, ref2
Browne, Patricia, ref1
Browne, the Honourable Tara
birth, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; christening, ref1, ref2, ref3; childhood, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; trust fund, ref1; and the end of his parents’ marriage, ref1; precocious nature, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; lonely, melancholy nature, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8; leads eccentric life with no limits set from early age, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; dislike of his stepmother, ref1, ref2; swearing, ref1, ref2; visits to Castle Mac Garrett, ref1, ref2; love of traditional Irish music, ref1, ref2; education, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11; childhood appearance, ref1; poetry, ref1; sense of humour, ref1; and the Luggala fire, ref1; ringleader, ref1; tutor, Deacon, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; love of classical music, ref1; and fashion, ref1, ref2, ref3; generosity, ref1, ref2, ref3; and his step-father Miguel, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; ‘pocket money’, ref1; Italian holidays with Oonagh, ref1, ref2, ref3; passes Common Entrance exam, but refuses to attend Eton, ref1; drinking, ref1, ref2; and Brendan Behan, ref1, ref2, ref3; life in Paris, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11; smoker, ref1, ref2; teenage appearance, ref1, ref2, ref3; love of women, ref1, ref2, ref3; raffishness, ref1, ref2; love of pop music, ref1; tutor, Godfrey Carey, ref2; attends Lucy Lambton’s coming-out party, ref1, ref2; and Candida Betjeman, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; and brother Garech’s twenty-first birthday, ref1; and his mother’s Dublin Horse Show party, ref1; in Marbella, ref1; love of fast cars, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; love of modern jazz, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5; love of recreational drugs, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15; and Glen Kidston, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17; puberty, ref18; first girlfriend, Melissa North, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7; fearlessness, ref1, ref2; love of speed boats, ref1; attends Dublin Horse Show, ref1; and Jacquetta Lampson, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; develops fracture in his relationship with Oonagh during Paris riots, ref1; life in Swinging London, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21, ref22, ref23; and Nicki Browne, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21; allowance, ref1, ref2; early car crashes, ref1, ref2; attends Dublin Horse Show, ref1; moves to Somerset, ref1; fatherhood, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; friendship with Paul McCartney, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; gift for hospitality, ref1; and Brendan Behan’s death, ref1; takes part in competitive motor racing at Rathdrum, ref1; marital strain, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11; shyness, ref1; friendship with Brian Jones, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14; takes job as apprentice mechanic in the west Midlands, ref1, ref2; godfather to his mother’s adopted twins, ref1; and the birth of his second child, Julian, ref2; buys into Len Street Engineering, ref1, ref1, ref2, ref3; LSD use, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12; falls for Amanda Lear, ref1, ref2; AC Cobras, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10; and the rag trade, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6; final Christmas, ref1; modelling work, ref1, ref2; twenty-first-birthday party, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; loses driving licence for speeding offence, ref1, ref2, ref3; restarts relationship with Amanda Lear, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; marital disintegration and divorce, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5; ends relationship with Amanda Lear, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; begins to refer to his imminent death, ref1; makes new will, ref1, ref2; fling with Marianne Faithfull, ref1; develops sense of doom, ref1; romance with Suki Potier, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5; gets driving licence back, ref1; final journey, fatal crash, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; burial at Luggala, ref1; death inspires John Lennon to write ‘A Day in the Life’, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5; memorial service at St Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, ref1; friends’ memorials to, ref1, ref2; as spirit of the sixties, ref1, ref
2, ref3
Browne family, ref1
Brubeck, Dave, ref1, ref2
Bryanston, ref1, ref2
Brynner, Rock, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Brynner, Yul, ref1, ref2, ref3
Buddicorn, Guinevere, ref1
Buddicorn, Jacintha, ref1
Burdon, Eric, ref1
Burma, ref1
Burnett, Al, ref1
Burnett, Bob, ref1
Burton, Richard, ref1
Butler, Joe, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Byrds, The, ref1
Byrne, Maura, ref1, ref2
Bystander magazine, ref1, ref2, ref3
Caine, Michael, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Cammell, Donald, ref1, ref2
Campbell, Gerard, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12
Campbell, Lady Jeanne, ref1
Capote, Truman, ref1, ref2
Carey, Godfrey, ref1, ref2, ref3
Carnaby Street, London, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Carstairs, John Paddy, ref1
Castle Mac Garrett, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Castro, Fidel, ref1
Cavallo, Bob, ref1
Cawley, James, ref1
Chamberlain, Neville, ref1
Chandler, Gene, ref1
Chapman, Colin, ref1
Charles, Ray, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Chartres Cathedral, ref1
Chassay, Tchaik, ref1, ref2
Checker, Chubby, ref1, ref2
Chelsea Set, ref1, ref2
Chieftains, ref1
Childers, Erskine, ref1
Christie, Julie, ref1
Churchill, Winston, ref1, ref2, ref3
Ciarán Mac Mathúna, ref1
Citkowitz, Israel, ref1, ref2
Citkowitz, Natalya, ref1
Claddagh Records, ref1, ref2
Clapton, Eric, ref1
Claridge’s, London, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Clark, Jim, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Clarke, Margaret, ref1
Clay, Cassius, ref1
Coasters, The, ref1
Cochran, Eddie, ref1
Cockburn, Claud (James Helvik), ref1, ref2, ref3
Cocteau, Jean, ref1
Cohen, Sheila, ref1, ref2
Coltrane, John, ref1
Columbia Records, ref1