Ripley · Richmond · Windsor · Broadway · Hyde Park · Miami

Eric Clapton

Five young men in white shirts and dark ties standing in a row — The Yardbirds in an Epic Records advertisement for “For Your Love”, April 1965, with Eric Clapton in the line-up. Epic Records · Public domain

The Yardbirds1963–65John Mayall’s BluesbreakersJohn Mayall’s Bluesbreakers1965–66

Close black-and-white portrait of the three members of Cream, faces overlapping, Eric Clapton on the right — Cream in a publicity photograph, 1966–68: Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton. General Artists Corporation / Atco Records · Public domain

Cream1966–68

Four musicians with guitars and a drum kit on a rug in a room with arched windows — Blind Faith in a 1969 Island Records photograph: Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech. Island Records · Public domain

Blind Faith1969

George Harrison in a dark jumper playing a painted electric guitar, another guitarist's hands at the edge of the frame — George Harrison on stage with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in Copenhagen, December 1969; Eric Clapton, at the right edge, was in the band. Svenskt Pressfoto (unknown photographer) · Public domain

Delaney & Bonnie & Friends1969–70

Four bearded men sitting against a stone wall with a dog beside them — Derek and the Dominos in an Atco trade advertisement, February 1971: Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock and Eric Clapton. Atco Records · Public domain

Derek and the Dominos1970–71

Six tiles standing. Each reads the year he joined and the year he left.

Six bands in eight years, and he named the last one after dominoes. Here each band is a tile: the year he joined on one end, the year he left on the other.

In the tiles: the Yardbirds in 1965, Cream in 1966–68, Blind Faith in 1969, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969, the Dominos in 1971. No photograph of the Bluesbreakers is free to use.

Surrey, 1945 to 1965

A village high street,
a hotel back room.

A village high street of old brick and timber buildings with a clock house — High Street, Ripley, Surrey, February 2020. Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0

Ripley, Surrey · 1945

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in Ripley, Surrey.

He grew up believing his grandparents were his parents, and that his mother was his older sister. At 16 he was accepted at Kingston College of Art on a one-year probation.

A village on the old road between Guildford and London: walk the High Street and the green. His family home is not identified here.

Sources

The Talbot

The Talbot, Ripley

Ripley, Surrey · Guide price £95–£195 a room a night with breakfast, October to April

A coaching inn on Ripley High Street, in the village where he was born, with rooms in the old building and a rear wing, a restaurant and a garden.

See the inn

A low painted building with One Kew Road on its front — The former Station Hotel extension, Kew Road, Richmond, 2014. Le Deluge · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Crawdaddy Club, Station Hotel · 1963 to 1965

On 13 October 1963 he saw the Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy Club and accepted their invitation to join.

The Crawdaddy launched two resident house bands: the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. On 8 December 1964 the Yardbirds played the Crawdaddy with Sonny Boy Williamson, and the set was recorded in full.

The Yardbirds record “For Your Love”; unhappy with the pop direction, he leaves weeks later. His last gig with them is in Bristol on 3 March.

The building with the plaque is the rear extension of the old Station Hotel. The plaque is on the building, a short walk from Richmond station.

Sources

The guide, tile by tile · 1963 to 1971

Tip the line.
Watch where it stops.

In a game of dominoes, touching ends must match. His bands nearly do: he left the Yardbirds in 1965 and joined the Bluesbreakers the same year, left them in 1966 for Cream, and so on. One join breaks. Tip the line, then pick any fallen tile to open its place.

The Yardbirds1963–65 · 3|5
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers1965–66 · 5|6
Cream1966–68 · 6|8
Blind Faith1969 · 9|9
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends1969–70 · 9|0
Derek and the Dominos1970–71 · 0|1

5 = 5ends match
6 = 6ends match
8 ≠ 9the gap: winter 1968–69
9 = 9ends match
0 = 0ends match

Six tiles standing. Each reads the year he joined and the year he left. The Yardbirds is still standing: tip the line to open it.

The Yardbirds · 1963–65

He sees the Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy and accepts their invitation to join.

Unhappy with the pop direction of “For Your Love”, he left; last gig in Bristol, 3 March 1965.

Sources

Still standing. Tip the line to open the place.

London · the 1960s and after

Three words,
two walls.

“Clapton is God” first appeared as graffiti on the wall of a London Tube station.

The first slogan was on a London Tube station wall. Nobody has pinned down which station, so it is not on the map.

By the 1970s the slogan was all over London’s walls, with no fixed author.

The first wall is not known for certain, so it is named here and not mapped. Pictured: a London Underground wall, for the tiles only.

Sources

A tiled Way Out sign in a cream arch on a green London Underground wall — A tiled wall at Russell Square tube station, 2016: a London Underground wall, not the one with the slogan. Mike Quinn · CC BY-SA 2.0

Cream · July 1966 to November 1968

Rain at Windsor,
three days on Broadway.

White rails along the green turf of Windsor racecourse under a blue sky — Royal Windsor Racecourse from Maidenhead Road, 2022. Bryn Holmes · CC BY-SA 2.0

Royal Windsor Racecourse · 31 July 1966

About 10,000 people stood in pouring rain and mud for a 40-minute set.

On 31 July 1966 the Sixth National Jazz and Blues Festival was held at the Royal Windsor Racecourse. Cream made their official debut here, after Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames; two nights earlier they had played an unofficial first show at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester. The songs included “Spoonful” and “I’m So Glad”.

A working racecourse beside the Thames; go on a race or event day.

Sources

A narrow old gabled building with fire escapes and shopfronts on Broadway — 1845 Broadway, between West 60th and 61st Streets, 2011: a few doors from Atlantic’s old studio at 1841. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0

Atlantic Studios, 1841 Broadway · May 1967

The title came from the roadie Mick Turner asking “Has it got them Disraeli gears?”; everyone laughed and the band kept it.

Atlantic Studios was at 1841 Broadway, on the corner of 60th Street. Tom Dowd designed the room himself in 1959, mainly to fit an Ampex eight-track.

Gear 1, Thursday: Cream’s work visas ran out on the Sunday, which gave Dowd three days from the Thursday.

Walk the corner of Broadway and West 60th Street, by Columbus Circle. There is no studio to visit.

Sources

The Fillmore’s brick and terracotta corner building with a red awning — The Fillmore, Geary Boulevard, 2010. total13 · CC BY 2.0

The Fillmore · 22 August 1967

Cream’s first American tour opened at the Fillmore Auditorium on 22 August 1967 and ended on 15 October in Detroit.

In 1952 the promoter Charles Sullivan took over a roller rink here and renamed it the Fillmore Auditorium. The hall reopened in 1994, after Bill Graham’s death. It still puts on shows most weeks, at 1805 Geary Boulevard.

A working concert hall; buy a ticket for a show to go in. An original 1967 Fillmore poster for Cream is in our store, below.

Sources

Cream playing in a television studio, a large drum kit in the foreground and Eric Clapton with a guitar at the back right — Cream on the Dutch television show Fanclub, 12 January 1968: Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton. F. van Geelen, Omroepvereniging VARA · CC BY-SA 3.0

The round red-brick Royal Albert Hall with its frieze and glass dome — The Royal Albert Hall, November 2022. Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Royal Albert Hall · 26 November 1968

Cream played their farewell concert here on 26 November 1968; the official timeline lists two concerts that night, uDiscover describes two nights, 25 and 26 November.

On 13 July 1968 Melody Maker’s front page reported that Cream had split. Yes opened the farewell show; Taste, Rory Gallagher’s band, also played. Tony Palmer filmed the farewell concerts; his documentary went out on the BBC the next year.

A working concert hall across the road from Kensington Gardens; book a show to go in.

Sources

Viator · Ad / affiliate

Royal Albert Hall tours

South Kensington

Live marketplace results for guided tours of the Royal Albert Hall, where Cream said farewell in 1968. Check each listing for what it includes.

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1969 · Blind Faith, then Delaney & Bonnie

A stage a metre high,
a crowd of 120,000.

The Serpentine lake in Hyde Park under a cloudy sky — The Serpentine, Hyde Park, June 2023. Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hyde Park · 7 June 1969

On Saturday 7 June 1969 Blind Faith headlined a free concert here, organised by Blackhill Enterprises. It was their first show.

The crowd was around 120,000. The stage was only about a metre high; Mick Jagger watched from the side. They went on at about 5pm and opened with “Well All Right”. The show was filmed, but not fully released until 2006.

A Royal Park, free and open daily from early morning. Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner and Lancaster Gate are on its edges.

Sources

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London rock history tours

London

Live marketplace results for 1960s rock walking and bus tours of London. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.

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A red-brick building with a canopy and café tables on Church Road — Olympic Studios, Church Road, Barnes, May 2026. Matt Brown · CC BY 4.0

Olympic Studios, Barnes · November 1969

On 16 November 1969 he began his first solo album here, with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends as the band.

Delaney & Bonnie & Friends open their UK tour at the Royal Albert Hall, with him in the band. The studio closed in February 2009; in 2013 it reopened as a cinema with a small studio alongside. Today it runs screens, a Bar & Bistro and a Club Room at 117–123 Church Road.

A cinema again, with a Bar & Bistro open daily from breakfast. Barnes Bridge and Barnes stations are the nearest.

Sources

Olympic Studios

Olympic Studios, Barnes

Barnes, London · Bar & Bistro from 8:30am weekdays, 9am weekends

Where he began his first solo album and made Slowhand: now a cinema with a Bar & Bistro and a Club Room. Book a film to go inside.

See what’s on

North Miami · August to October 1970

The last tile
has another name on it.

Derek and the Dominos began Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs here on 26 August 1970; the sessions ran to 2 October.

Duane Allman joined the sessions on 27 August. They made the album with Tom Dowd. He wrote “Layla” for Pattie Boyd, then married to George Harrison.

Derek and the Dominos, 0|1: 1970 to 1971. Turn the tile over.

Sources

A windowless pale-green studio building beside a car park under a blue sky — Criteria’s building on NE 149th Street, North Miami, 2011. Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0

Criteria Studios · 1970 and 1974

He came back in April and May 1974 to make 461 Ocean Boulevard, again with Dowd.

Criteria began as one room in 1958. It now has seven studios across nearly 27,000 square feet.

A working studio, not open to visitors. See the building from NE 149th Street.

Sources

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Miami music and city tours

Miami

Live marketplace results for tours of Miami and the beaches north of it. Criteria is a working studio and the Golden Beach house is a private home: neither opens to tours.

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1973 to 1977

Back on stage,
then back to Barnes.

The pale facade of the former Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park — The former Rainbow Theatre on Seven Sisters Road, 2017. Peyoman · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Rainbow Theatre · 13 January 1973

On 13 January 1973 he came back on stage here, in the Rainbow Concerts organised by Pete Townshend.

There were two concerts. They followed three years of heroin addiction. The building opened in 1930 as the Finsbury Park Astoria and was listed Grade II* in January 1974.

Now a church. See the front from Seven Sisters Road, by Finsbury Park station.

Sources

A palm-lined road through Golden Beach under a blue sky — A road through Golden Beach, Florida, 2012: the town, not the house. Gervacio Rosales · CC BY 3.0

Ocean Boulevard, Golden Beach · 1974 · named, not mapped

The house on the album cover was 461 Ocean Boulevard, in the town of Golden Beach.

He lived there while making the album. George Terry suggested covering Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”; Clapton’s version went to No.1 in the US. The album reached No.1 on 17 August 1974 and stayed there a month, his first US chart-topping LP.

461 Ocean Boulevard is a private home: the town is named here, the house is not mapped. Pictured: a public road in Golden Beach.

Sources

Eric Clapton on stage in a long coat, head bowed over an electric guitar at a microphone — Eric Clapton at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, 15 August 1975. Photo: Matt Gibbons. Matt Gibbons · CC BY 2.0

Olympic Studios, Barnes · May 1977

From 2 to 25 May 1977 he made Slowhand here.

He makes Slowhand at Olympic in just over three weeks.

Sources

Yvonne Elliman and Eric Clapton singing at two microphones on a dark stage — Eric Clapton and Yvonne Elliman at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, 15 August 1975. Photo: Matt Gibbons. Matt Gibbons · CC BY 2.0

Eric Clapton, bearded and smiling, seated with an electric guitar — Eric Clapton in an RSO Records trade advertisement, October 1976. RSO Records · Public domain

Where it is now

10 places you can visit, from Ripley to North Miami. The first “Clapton is God” wall and the 461 Ocean Boulevard house are named but not mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A village on the old road between Guildford and London: walk the High Street and the green. His family home is not identified here.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The plaque is on the building, a short walk from Richmond station.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working racecourse beside the Thames; go on a race or event day.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A cinema again, with a Bar & Bistro open daily from breakfast. Barnes Bridge and Barnes stations are the nearest.

High Street, Ripley, Surrey, February 2020. Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ripley, near Woking, Surrey
Ripley, Surrey
Eric Patrick Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in Ripley, Surrey.
A village on the old road between Guildford and London: walk the High Street and the green. His family home is not identified here.
Sources
The former Station Hotel extension, Kew Road, Richmond, 2014. Le Deluge · CC BY-SA 3.0
Kew Road and Parkshot, Richmond
The Crawdaddy Club, Station Hotel
On 13 October 1963 he saw the Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy Club and accepted their invitation to join.
The plaque is on the building, a short walk from Richmond station.
Sources
Royal Windsor Racecourse from Maidenhead Road, 2022. Bryn Holmes · CC BY-SA 2.0
Maidenhead Road, Windsor
Royal Windsor Racecourse
On 31 July 1966 the Sixth National Jazz and Blues Festival was held at the Royal Windsor Racecourse.
A working racecourse beside the Thames; go on a race or event day.
Sources
Olympic Studios, Church Road, Barnes, May 2026. Matt Brown · CC BY 4.0
117–123 Church Road, Barnes, London SW13
Olympic Studios, Barnes
On 16 November 1969 he began his first solo album here, with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends as the band.
A cinema again, with a Bar & Bistro open daily from breakfast. Barnes Bridge and Barnes stations are the nearest.
Sources

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