Six vintage photographs, 1979

Following George Harrison and Pattie Boyd's split in 1974 and their divorce in 1977, Pattie settled down with Eric Clapton at his Surrey estate Hurtwood Edge, and George went on to remarry with Olivia Arias in 1978. Eric and George remained great friends, despite the former's obsessive pursuit of George's then wife. After Eric and Pattie's hasty wedding on 27 March 1979 in Tucson, Arizona, ahead of Eric's American tour, the couple enjoyed a larger celebration with friends back in England, with George and two of his famous former bandmates as members of the party.

In her 2007 autobiography Wonderful Today, Pattie recounts the occasion: In May [1979], when Eric was home briefly between tours, Roger organized the most extravagant wedding party for us at Hurtwood Edge. Three hundred people came - Eric’s family, my family, the Ripleyites, the local farmers and tradespeople, and lots of great musicians, who jammed together. We had Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman, Donovan, Robert Plant, Robert Palmer, and Jack Bruce. George, Paul, and Ringo came - for some reason John wasn’t invited, but he said he would have come if he’d been asked, which was sad because if he had, it would have been the first and last time the Beatles played together since the breakup - because the next year he was dead.

Reportedly, the three former Beatles got up on stage to perform a boozy set, which included renditions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Get Back and Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Denny Laine from Wings would later describe the performance as absolute rubbish, yet it remains an landmark moment in the history of the Beatles as a rare occasion that the trio shared the stage once again.

Pattie continues: Mick Jagger came with Jerry Hall, who had been engaged to Bryan Ferry but had left him for Mick. Moments later Bryan Ferry arrived and asked who was there. When I told him that Mick and Jerry had just arrived, he turned on his heel, jumped into his car, and zoomed off, taking half the drive with him.
The party started at three or four in the afternoon and went on with people coming and going until morning. We had two marquees, a small one for the children, which was full of toys and games, and another with a dance floor, a stage for the musicians, and loads of guitars... Fireworks began at about midnight. Roger had asked Paines, the manufacturers, to design the display and it was the most amazing fireworks show I have ever seen. Half the village could see them and the noise was loud enough to wake everyone in Surrey... By the time Eric and I went upstairs to bed it was daylight. We were ready to drop - but Mick and Jerry were tucked up and fast asleep in our bed, with little Jade, his daughter with Bianca Jagger, sleeping sweetly beside them. Trust Mick to have found the best bed in the house.