Blackpool · Soho · Skye · MCMLXVIII

Jethro Tull

Being an Account of a Blues Band from Blackpool, named after the Inventor of the Seed Drill; with the Places where it was Sown, and may be Visited To-day.

A history enthusiast in a booking office named them after an 18th-century farmer. Read them, then, the way he wrote: in plates, lettered, and sown in rows.

Plate I.p. 1968

Ian Anderson playing the flute on stage in 1970, long hair and beard, a bass player beside him — Fig. I. Ian Anderson, Helsinki, 19 January 1970. Leo Luoti / Helsingin Sanomat · Public domain

An eighteenth-century engraving of a horse-drawn seed drill, with lettered parts — Fig. II. The drill, 1762 plate. Jethro Tull · Public domain

Fig. I, lettered as the plate letters the drill.

Chap. I · Blackpool, 1959 to 1967

Three boys from one grammar school.

A red-brick and buff-stone Edwardian school building on a Blackpool street — The former grammar school building on Raikes Parade, Blackpool, in 2024. Ray Bird · CC BY-SA 2.0

The old grammar school, Raikes Parade · Raikes Parade, Blackpool

The Andersons moved from Edinburgh to Blackpool in 1959. He had a grammar-school education in Blackpool, then studied fine art at art college.

Blackpool Grammar School counts Ian Anderson, John Evan and Jeffrey Hammond among its old boys. The band played two concerts at the school, in December 1965 and April 1966.

In late 1967 two local blues groups, the John Evan Band and McGregor’s Engine, merged into the first Jethro Tull.

The school left Raikes Parade for Blackpool Old Road in 1961. The John Evan Band and McGregor’s Engine merge; in November they move south to Luton.

The school moved out in 1961; the building now holds a Salvation Army hall. See it from Raikes Parade.

Authorities

Chap. II · 90 Wardour Street, Soho · 1968

A borrowed name.
It stuck because the manager liked the show.

A Soho street frontage at ground level, Wardour Street — 90 Wardour Street, Soho, in 2018: the former site of the Marquee Club. Picachord · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Marquee, 90 Wardour Street · 90 Wardour Street, Soho

The Marquee was at 90 Wardour Street from 1964 to 1988.

Jethro Tull played its first gig under that name at the Marquee in February 1968.

The club left in 1988. Number 90 is on the Soho stretch of Wardour Street; look for it from the pavement.

Authorities

Hazlitt’s

Hazlitt’s, Soho

Soho, London

A Georgian townhouse hotel in Soho, named after the essayist who lived there: an 18th-century house a short walk from Wardour Street. Not a Jethro Tull address. Pictured: 90 Wardour Street.

Check rooms

On the club circuit they went through several names. A history enthusiast in their booking agent’s office picked the 18th-century agriculturist’s.

The name stuck because the Marquee’s manager liked the show, and gave them a weekly residency.

Ian Anderson on stage in 1973 under stage lights — Ian Anderson at Chicago Stadium, September 1973, on the A Passion Play tour. Tony Morelli · CC BY 2.0

Anderson first stood on one leg to play harmonica, holding the mic stand for balance. During the long Marquee run a journalist wrote that he played the flute that way, and he set out to live up to it.

Authorities

Plate II · after Tull’s drill of 1701

Three rows at once.
Turn the drill, and sow the band in order.

It sowed three rows at once. A plough cut a channel, a grooved cylinder turned seed out of a hopper into it, and a harrow covered it. Sowing at regular intervals, at an even depth and in straight lines meant less waste and bigger yields.

Stages

Studios

Ground

The hopper is full: 15 seeds, three rows. Turn the cylinder.

Arrow keys turn the cylinder forwards and back.

The hopper is full.

Chap. III · Willesden and Notting Hill · 1969 to 1971

A high road, then a chapel.

Shops along a north London high road — High Road, Willesden, in 2015: the street Morgan Studios stood on. Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0

Morgan Studios, Willesden · 169–171 High Road, Willesden

Morgan Studios was set up in 1967 at 169–171 High Road, Willesden.

Stand Up was recorded at Morgan, and at Olympic, between 17 April and 21 May 1969.

Benefit was recorded at Morgan between September 1969 and February 1970.

On a wet Sunday in the mid-1970s Anderson wrote Jack-in-the-Green in the morning and recorded it on his own at Morgan that afternoon.

Nothing marks the studios. The photograph is the High Road itself, a long shopping street in north-west London.

Authorities

A round blue plaque on a brick wall — The blue plaque on the former chapel in Basing Street, Notting Hill, June 2021. Hassocks5489 · CC0

Island Studios, Basing Street · 8–10 Basing Street, Notting Hill

Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records, set up the studio in a former chapel at 8–10 Basing Street.

Aqualung was recorded here in late 1970 and came out in 1971.

Anderson remembers awful teething troubles with the new studio during the Aqualung sessions. He recorded the backing track for Locomotive Breath alone before the others added their parts.

The old chapel is flats now. Read its blue plaque from the pavement on Basing Street.

Authorities

Chap. IV · Hérouville-en-Vexin · 1972 to 1973

The crop that failed.
Dug in, and sown again at home.

An eighteenth-century French château behind a lawn — The Château d’Hérouville, north-west of Paris, on an old postcard. carte postale (postcard) · Public domain

Château d’Hérouville · Rue Paul Bagnard, Hérouville-en-Vexin, north-west of Paris

After Thick as a Brick the band worked up ideas in Montreux, then tried to record here, at what Anderson called the Funky Chateau.

Equipment failures and food poisoning dogged the sessions. They kept only a few sections, went home, and began again with a darker set of songs.

In the 1970s the 18th-century château was a residential studio for artists from all over the world.

A private château: see it from Rue Paul Bagnard, in the village.

Authorities

Chap. V · On stage · 1970 and 1973

Afton Down, between the Moody Blues and Hendrix.

A green chalk down sloping to the sea under a blue sky — Afton Down, near Freshwater, Isle of Wight, in 2009. Editor5807 · Public domain

Afton Down, Isle of Wight · Afton Down, near Freshwater Bay

On 30 August 1970, the last day of the Isle of Wight Festival, Jethro Tull played between the Moody Blues and Jimi Hendrix.

It was one of the biggest audiences they ever played to. The organisers estimated the crowd at up to 600,000.

The set came out in 2004 as Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970.

Open chalk downland above Freshwater Bay; walk up from the bay.

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A curved red-brick concert hall — The Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Alvar Aalto’s 1958 hall, in May 2013. DreferComm · CC BY-SA 3.0

Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki · Sturenkatu 4, Helsinki

On 19 January 1970 Helsingin Sanomat photographed Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick on stage here. The hall is Alvar Aalto’s, from 1958.

A working concert hall in Alppila, north of the city centre.

Authorities

A large neo-baroque concert hall in Hamburg — The Laeiszhalle (Musikhalle), Hamburg, in 2014. Misburg3014 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Laeiszhalle (Musikhalle), Hamburg · Gorch-Fock-Wall, Hamburg-Neustadt

Heinrich Klaffs photographed the band on stage here in March 1973.

Hamburg’s old concert hall, still in use; see its own programme.

Authorities

Five musicians on a concert stage in 1973, Ian Anderson in the centre — Jethro Tull at the Musikhalle, Hamburg, March 1973: Barriemore Barlow, Jeffrey Hammond, Martin Barre, Ian Anderson and John Evan. Heinrich Klaffs · CC BY-SA 2.0

Chap. VI · Strathaird, Isle of Skye · 1978 to 1994

Named after a farmer.
He farmed salmon.

Jagged dark mountains across a sea loch — The Cuillin across Loch Scavaig from Elgol, on the Strathaird peninsula, July 1983. Derek Voller · CC BY-SA 2.0

Strathaird, Isle of Skye · Strathaird peninsula, between Loch Scavaig and Loch Slapin

Strathaird is an estate on Skye: a peninsula between Loch Scavaig and Loch Slapin. It covers 6,444 hectares.

Anderson founded a salmon farm on Skye in 1978, and ran it during a break from the band in the early 1980s.

The Strathaird business was based on his Skye estate and ran until the late 1990s, when parts of it were sold.

He once owned the estate. The John Muir Trust bought it in 1994, with help from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Open hill land. The B8083 runs through it to Elgol, where boats leave for Loch Coruisk.

Authorities

Moorland with blocks of forestry and a loch beyond — Strathaird moorland and forestry, the B8083 and Loch Slapin beyond, 2005. Donald Thomas · CC BY-SA 2.0

VisitScotland listing

Misty Isle Boat Trips, Elgol

Elgol, Isle of Skye · Daily except Sunday, March to November · price on request

From Elgol, on the Strathaird peninsula, across Loch Scavaig to Loch Coruisk, with time ashore at the viewpoint.

See trips

Chap. VII · Lower Basildon, Berkshire · 1701 and 2015

The farmer’s grave.
The singer came to see it.

A flint and brick village church among trees — St Bartholomew’s, Lower Basildon, in April 2016. Basher Eyre · CC BY-SA 2.0

St Bartholomew’s, Lower Basildon · Church Lane, Lower Basildon, Berkshire

Jethro Tull the agriculturist was baptised here, and is buried in the churchyard.

He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1701. He set out his methods in Horse-Hoeing Husbandry in 1731.

A church of about 700 years in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The agriculturist’s grave is in the churchyard.

Authorities

A stone grave slab set against a church wall — Jethro Tull’s gravestone in St Bartholomew’s churchyard, Lower Basildon. MalcolmGould · CC BY 3.0

On 2 September 2015 Ian Anderson came here to see the grave of the man his band is named after.

The church is about 700 years old and is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.

Authorities

Finis.

Where it is now

10 places you can visit, in Blackpool, London, Berkshire, the Isle of Wight, Skye, Helsinki, Hamburg and the Vexin.

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

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The club left in 1988. Number 90 is on the Soho stretch of Wardour Street; look for it from the pavement.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Nothing marks the studios. The photograph is the High Road itself, a long shopping street in north-west London.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The old chapel is flats now. Read its blue plaque from the pavement on Basing Street.

90 Wardour Street, Soho, in 2018: the former site of the Marquee Club. Picachord · CC BY-SA 4.0
90 Wardour Street, Soho
The Marquee, 90 Wardour Street
The Marquee was at 90 Wardour Street from 1964 to 1988.
The club left in 1988. Number 90 is on the Soho stretch of Wardour Street; look for it from the pavement.
Authorities
High Road, Willesden, in 2015: the street Morgan Studios stood on. Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0
169–171 High Road, Willesden
Morgan Studios, Willesden
Morgan Studios was set up in 1967 at 169–171 High Road, Willesden.
Nothing marks the studios. The photograph is the High Road itself, a long shopping street in north-west London.
Authorities
The blue plaque on the former chapel in Basing Street, Notting Hill, June 2021. Hassocks5489 · CC0
8–10 Basing Street, Notting Hill
Island Studios, Basing Street
Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records, set up the studio in a former chapel at 8–10 Basing Street.
The old chapel is flats now. Read its blue plaque from the pavement on Basing Street.
Authorities

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