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In 1969, the Rolling Stones were about to enter their imperial phase, a time in their career where everything they did seemed to go right. They were on their way to being the biggest rock band in the world. In December 1968, they released Beggar's Banquet, their biggest selling album to that point.
Work had started on Let It Bleed, another record that would become a classic. That would eventually be followed by Sticky Fingers in 1971, Exile on Main Street in 1972, and a half dozen more albums that would cement their place in rock history. Let's back things up to 1969. Things were not good within the band. In fact, they were terrible. Hard drugs had been seeping into the group, and founder Brian Jones was a mess.
Not only was he not able to contribute to the group in any meaningful musical way, but his mood swings made him impossible to deal with. Sometimes he wouldn't show up to rehearsals, and when he did, he was useless. He neglected looking after the band's communal car, and it was towed away. Jones crashed his motorcycle into a shop window and spent time in the hospital. And his drug convictions made it impossible for him to get a visa so the band could tour the U.S.
The Stones desperately needed to tour because some insanely large tax bills were due. They needed the money. Something had to give. On June 8, 1969, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards told Brian Jones that he was fired from the band he founded. Brian Jones was no longer a Rolling Stone. Less than a month later, he was dead. Was it a drug-related rock and roll misadventure? Did he accidentally drown in his swimming pool?
Or was it something more evil and sinister? Ever since the news broke on July 3rd, 1969, that Brian Jones had died, there have been questions. It's a very curious case, and some believe, including his family, that it may have been murder. I'm Alan Cross, and this is Uncharted Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry, Episode 19. It's the mysterious death of Brian Jones. Let's go rock and roll show.
That's Midnight Rambler from the Let It Bleed album. And that recording from the spring of 1969 may contain the final musical contributions of founder Brian Jones to the Rolling Stones. A man who used to be able to pick up and master virtually any musical instrument immediately was reduced to playing some rudimentary percussion on congas that are buried deep in the mix.
It was all he could do because he was always so drugged out. Hello again, I'm Alan Cross, and we're trying to find out what happened to Brian Jones in the early morning hours of July 3rd, 1969. And to be honest, we really don't know. The coroner declared that he drowned while under the influence of alcohol and drugs sometime around 1130 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2nd, 1969.
He was drunk or stoned or both and went for a swim in his private pool at his farm and died. Misadventure, as they say. But there are many, many questions. His death is one of the most mysterious in the history of rock. Let's try to deconstruct everything at least the best we can.
Jones was born in 1942. He was a lifelong asthmatic. He was a good student and a solid athlete, competing in badminton and diving. School, though, was boring. Too many rules. Too conformist. Standing up to teachers got him suspended at least twice. There was lots of music in the house. Jones' father was a part-time piano teacher and his mom conducted the choir at church. But while mom and dad preferred classical music, Brian found himself drawn to the blues.
He convinced his parents to buy him a saxophone for his 15th birthday. And for his 17th, he got his first guitar, a cheap model that cost all of three pounds. Around the same time, his 14-year-old girlfriend got pregnant, something that caused a lot of consternation, as you might expect. Both families got together and agreed that it would be best for everyone if the girl were to be sent to France to avoid scandal. The child was given up for adoption.
Brian escaped by living abroad for a while, largely in Scandinavia, supporting himself by busking. But relationships that resulted in children continued through Brian's 20s. By the time he was 21, he had fathered three kids by three different women. And these are the ones that we know of. A couple of more would follow, not including abortions, including one by Nico, the singer of the Velvet Underground. Brian had some friends, but many people picked up on bad vibes from him.
He gained a reputation as a liar and a cheat, someone who could not be trusted. His parents were terribly concerned that they were raising a criminal. They didn't know about the drugs that had crept into Brian's life. If they had, they would have been outraged. Cocaine, speed, various pills. He was a fan, a big drug fan. But back to music.
In 1961, Brian moved to London, where he got involved in the local blues, jazz, and R&B scene, sometimes calling himself Elmo Jones. Between gigs, he took a series of jobs, including being a bus conductor, an errand boy, and a stint in a music store. But nothing stuck. On May 2, 1962, an ad appeared in a magazine called Jazz News. It had been placed by a 20-year-old Brian looking for people to join his new R&B band.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards showed up. The new group, called the Rolling Stones, played their first gig at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962. There were some lineup adjustments over the next six months before things settled down. It was Jones, Jagger, Richards, bass player Bill Wyman, largely because he could afford to buy smokes for everyone, and jazz drummer Charlie Watts.
Back then, Brian was firmly in charge. Not only did he have the final say about music and the lineup, for which he was ruthless, he also served as the band's manager and booking agent. And for that, he paid himself five pounds more per week than everyone else. Make no mistake, though, Brian was a brilliant musician. Give him any instrument and he'd figure it out within minutes. For example, the sitar is a very difficult thing to play.
No problem for Brian, though. I could not foresee this thing happening. I see a red door and I want it painted.
Brian Jones was with the Rolling Stones through their rise in the middle 1960s. That's when they were often rivaling the Beatles for attention and number one singles. Although songwriting credits went to Jagger and Richards, we hear Brian Jones in songs like Mother's Little Helper, Under My Thumb, Ruby Tuesday, Let's Spend the Night Together, and She's a Rainbow. Behind the scenes, however, there were issues. A lot of them.
Brian began drinking heavily in 1964 and was well on his way to becoming an alcoholic. The group had grown too big for Brian to continue to manage everything, so Andrew Luke Oldham took over in May 1963. Everyone agreed that it was the right idea for the right reasons, but for Brian, it still hurt.
Oldman also recognized that Mick was the focal point of the group, not Brian. Plus, he pushed Mick and Keith to write their own songs, moving away from blues covers, knowing that original material is where they'd make all their money. This also did not sit well with Brian, but he'd entered a period of terminal writer's block. He got bored with the guitar and kept experimenting with exotic instruments.
That's where the sitar comes in, as well as the dulcimer, a variety of children's instruments, and a few more things. But he often failed to show up for gigs, or rehearsals, or recording sessions. Mick and Keith were firmly in control of the band, and with them in charge, the Stones were doing better and better, with little or no help from Brian. He began to suspect, and rightly so, that Mick, Keith, and Andrew were looking to push him out of the group, his group, or at least it used to be.
Brian was also becoming more erratic. Lots of drugs, lots of alcohol. Large dark circles and bags started to develop under his eyes. The asthma attacks got worse. On tour, he'd sometimes just disappear, maybe for three or four days. He'd meet with drug dealers in pubs, not bothering to hide what he was doing. Once he scored, he'd go to the bathroom and swallow a handful of pills that he washed down with alcohol.
Add this to his asthma problems, and he ended up with some nasty medical complications. Breathing problems, weird blotches on his skin, and serious depression. And if we can go back to his personal life for a second, that was a never-ending drama. To put it bluntly, the man was a dog. He was always chasing women, even at the expense of the band. Between 1965 and 1967, he dated Anita Pallenberg, the German model and actress. It appears she introduced him to...
acid, which did not go down well in Brian's head. In March 1967, Brian, Anita, and Keith went on vacation to Morocco for a stay at the Hotel Minza in Tangier. Something went very wrong, and Brian turned violent against Anita. Brian moved to punch Anita, but she dodged him in time, and Brian ended up hitting a large wrought iron window, breaking his wrist. He was hospitalized.
Keith took Anita back to England and she eventually moved in with him. And you can imagine how well that went down. Brian's involvement in the day-to-day operations with the band continued to drop. He just wasn't trustworthy, especially when it came to things like interviews. And the drug use continued. On May 10th, 1967, Brian was arrested for possession. And that would soon cause problems, especially since he was already on probation.
By mid-1967, there was open hostility between Brian and the rest of the band, along with Andrew Lou Goldham and new manager Alan Klein. They were all tired of the drugs, the absences, the constant drama with women, including violence, his mood swings, his lying, and his ego. It was Brian against everyone else.
Among the last recording sessions Brian did with the Stones was at Olympic Studios in the summer of 1968, when the band was working on Jumpin' Jack Flash and the tracks for the upcoming Beggar's Banquet album. His guitar work is in here somewhere, I think. But it's hard, yeah I'm jumpin' jack flash It's a guess, guess, guess
Brian couldn't do much because not only was he drugged out much at the time, at one point he was put in the corner of the studio propped up by pillows because he couldn't stand, but also because his wrist hadn't healed properly from the incident in Morocco. He also narrowly avoided jail time for that amphetamine arrest in 1967. Speed was Brian's favorite drug and he'd often stay up for days. Brian's situation was decaying rapidly.
There were brief admissions to health clinics, but they didn't work, despite a diagnosis of severe paranoia, probably induced by all the drugs he was taking. He was convinced the cops were watching him and planning to plant drugs at his apartment. By March 1969, it was apparent to everyone that the Rolling Stones could not continue with Brian.
He was uncontrollable, always getting in trouble with the police, psychically damaged, an addict prone to days-long binges, and completely unreliable when it came to any role he could play in the band. He managed to lose the band's Jaguar, and then got into a bad motorcycle accident that had him hospitalized again. Brian couldn't find a place to live either. He kept getting evicted from hotels and apartments. He had to go, and soon he would, in more ways than one, too.
It wasn't like Brian Jones was completely oblivious to the state of his life and his precarious situation within the Rolling Stones. From at least 1966, he knew he'd been on some kind of bubble, and he realized that he had to do something, so maybe it was best that he got out of London. So he did. He moved to Cotchford Farm, a lovely 11-acre estate in East Sussex. It's a beautiful place dating back to maybe the 16th century.
In 1924, it was bought by author A. A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh. He wrote all his Pooh books there. The gardens feature a statue of his son Christopher Robin, and there are other monuments dedicated to Piglet, Tigger, Owl, and Roo. The 100-acre wood, the six pine trees, and Pooh Bridge, all landmarks in the books, are named after real places on the farm.
In 1955, Milne died and his son Christopher put the farm up for sale. A year later, Stuart Taylor, an American, and his wife Margarita, who was Spanish, moved in. They embarked on some extensive renovations, one of which was to install a swimming pool. In November 1968, the Taylors got divorced and sold the house to an undisclosed buyer,
That turned out to be Brian Jones. He paid a total of $35,000 with the idea of turning the farm into some kind of weekend retreat or sanctuary where he could work on music and get his head together. But Brian liked the place so much, he made it his permanent home. He also added his own touches to Cotchford, bringing in a lot of things he bought on his many trips to Morocco. That also included a couple of London double-decker buses that he bought on a whim, along with George Harrison's old Rolls-Royce.
He loved the idea that he was now living in the house at Pooh Corner. Brian did have some ideas about turning the place into something more befitting a big rock star. When he learned that the staff who came with the farm couldn't do what he needed, Brian hired a builder. His name was Frank Thorogood. And we'll come back to him later. By the spring of 1969, Brian was all moved in. People who visited claimed that Brian was incredibly happy. He was even ready to start working on music again.
He called John Lennon, bluesman Alexis Corner, Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell, and a few other friends about the possibility of forming a band outside the Rolling Stones. He even began recording demos. At least two were known to exist from sessions in May and June 1969. One song was entitled Chow Time, and the other was Has Anybody Seen My Baby? A couple of blues jams were also committed to tape, and this appears to be one of them. ♪
The end for Brian Jones with the Rolling Stones came on June 8th, 1969. It was a nice warm night when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts showed up at the farm. As soon as they rolled up the drive, Brian knew he was finished. He'd been expecting his sacking for some time.
The meeting was short and well-rehearsed. Brian was no longer a Rolling Stone. His departure would be spun in the press as a voluntary departure, a chance for Brian to work on his own and to save face. A cover story about creative differences was fashioned, and a statement was drafted. I no longer see eye to eye with the others over discs we are cutting. I want to play my kind of music, which is no longer the Stones' music.
The music Mick and Keith have been writing has progressed at a tangent, as far as my own taste is concerned. To soften the blow, he was offered a one-time buyout of 100,000 pounds plus 20,000 pounds per year for as long as the Rolling Stones existed. That was very generous for the time. 100,000 pounds is equal to over 2 million U.S. today, and the 20,000 pound annual stipend is equal to over 300,000 U.S. today. And Brian was okay with that.
Oh, and there was more. Brian could still use the offices of the Rolling Stones for any press and promotion he wanted to do going forward. And now the Stones were free to tour America to raise money to pay off all those tax bills. When Brian's friends heard about the firing, they were immediately concerned. But to their surprise, Brian was calm, happy, and completely sober. It was like he was relieved his ordeal with the Stones was over and a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Rehearsals and jams with fellow musicians continued. People like Morris Gibb of the Bee Gees, Cynthia Lennon, Steve Winwood, John Mayhall, and Twiggy, the model, all turned up to play music and to have dinner. The farm had cats, a dog, and the renovations had begun. But when it came to his health, Brian still had a long way to go. He'd gained weight, his hair was a mess, his skin was all blotchy, and he got back to drinking. Wine mostly, but also beer and brandy.
and Brian had financial problems. The buyout money from the Stones would take a few more weeks to arrive. Meanwhile, though, he was skint. When some friends came around, he couldn't even afford to pay for their cab fare home. July 2nd, 1969 ended as most nights did on the farm. The construction workers had gone home for the day. More friends had dropped in. There was plenty of booze and cakes with hash baked in. By 10, the guests had all departed. All that remained were the usual suspects of the farm.
Brian commented that his asthma was particularly bad that evening. This is where the story gets murky. At around 10:30, Frank Thurgood, remember him, the builder who by the way was living on the property as the work was being done, says that Brian appeared at his door and asked Thurgood and his girlfriend, Janet, to join him down by the pool. And they said, "Okay, we will."
Frank says that when he and Janet arrived, Brian and Anna Wohin, his latest girlfriend, a woman from Sweden, were sitting on a wooden bench at the shallow end of the pool. They were surrounded by all kinds of liquor bottles. Brian was swigging at a bottle of brandy as he washed down little black pills. At around 11:30, Brian said, "Let's go for a swim." Anna and Janet told him that he was too drunk and too high and that he better stay out of the water.
But Brian was insistent. He, Frank, and Anna went back to the house to change into bathing suits. And then they all dove into the warm pool, which was kept at about 90 degrees. Anna had enough after a few minutes, climbed out and went back to the house. Frank stayed with Brian for another 10 or 15 minutes before he went back to the house for a smoke. When he returned, Frank says Brian was face down in the deep end of the pool. He screamed for Anna and the two of them managed to pull Brian out.
Janet had been trained as a nurse and immediately began CPR. An ambulance was called. The police were called at 12.10 a.m. on the morning of July 3rd. They found Brian lying next to the pool with his head on a rolled-up towel. For a while, there was a faint pulse as he was transferred to the hospital. But then, nothing. Brian Jones was pronounced dead on arrival. It was around 1 in the morning on July 3rd, 1969. He was 27 years old.
The cops inspected the pool area and the house, taking statements from everyone. Brian's body was removed by ambulance around 1:30. We think, or was it? There are some reports that this ambulance left without him and that Brian's cold body laid by the pool until sometime after 6:00 that morning. The police returned to the house around midday on July 3rd for more interviews. And when they arrived that time, they seemed suspicious. Still, no charges, no arrests.
A coroner's report came back a few days later. He declared that Brian had died as the result of drowning, brought on by intoxication of drugs and alcohol. His heart and liver were greatly enlarged due to all those years of abuse. Two days later, on July 5th, the Rolling Stones performed a free concert in London's Hyde Park. It was their first performance in two years. Up to 500,000 people gathered for the show. The gig, which had been in the works for weeks,
was supposed to focus on the unveiling of guitarist Mick Taylor, Brian's replacement. Instead, it became a big memorial for Brian. 500 white butterflies were released in his honor. That number was supposed to be 2,500, but 2,000 of them died before they were set free. Brian was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery. He was embalmed and his hair was bleached white. And as a ghoulish precaution,
It's said that his airtight silver and bronze casket imported from the U.S. was buried 10 feet deep to dissuade any trophy hunters who might drop by with a shovel. And when he died, Ryan was basically broke, owing more money than he had coming in. And that settlement from the Rolling Stones in exchange for him leaving never came through. So it was all over. Ryan Jones was dead and buried. The Stones moved on and the case was settled.
Well, not really. And here's where the mayhem and possible murder begins. Did Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones accidentally drown in his swimming pool? Or, as some people very close to him contend, was he murdered? This requires some elaborate unpacking. Let's go back to around midnight on July 2nd, 1969.
Frank Thorogood, the builder, was the first to find Brian. Tom Keylock, the chauffeur, was one of the first on the scene. Then came Janet and Anna. Now Frank, if you'll remember, was the builder whom Brian hired to carry out some renovations throughout the Cotchford Farm property. He's the subject of most of what we're going to talk about.
Frank was hired on the recommendation of Keith Richards. After looking around the property, Frank told Brian that the work he wanted done would cost about £10,000. And Brian said, "Okay." Thorogood hired three guys to help him and Tom Keylock as well to do the work. To cut down on the commute time from London where Frank lived, Thorogood convinced Brian to let him live above a garage on the property during the week.
Even though Frank was married with a wife back in the city, he moved into the garage flat with his girlfriend and mistress, Janet Lawson. The three subcontractors also basically moved in too. All married, all with girlfriends. This, for some reason, really upset Brian. Suddenly, he had a thing about infidelity. Maybe it was because he didn't want the people of the surrounding countryside gossiping any more than they had to about what went on at the farm.
Thorogood was trusted by Tom Keylock, the Stone's former chauffeur and a friend of Brian. He permitted Thorogood to draw money from the Stone's office in London to pay for the day-to-day expenses of his and that of his three subcontractors. Other unusual things were happening. When Brian moved into Cotchford, his girlfriend was Suki Poitier, but within days of joining him at the farm, she couldn't take it anymore.
Brian's paranoid mood swings were getting out of control, and it didn't help that Brian saw her as being overly friendly with Frank Thorogood. Brian also started to complain that the builders weren't actually building anything, that they'd taken over the farm and were acting as if they owned the place, inviting friends over and not doing their jobs for days on end. A necessary drainage system still had been installed, and the driveway to the property was still a mess. They'd start drinking at midday.
Frank permitted them to buy booze from the nearby village, on Brian's account of course. They also allegedly stole stuff from the house on a regular basis. Meanwhile, none of the builders had been paid. Again, remember that $100,000 buyout from the Stones? It was supposed to take a few weeks to process, and it still hadn't come through. Bills and wages were piling up.
Also, the builders weren't getting along with some of the farm's regular staff, including a certain Mrs. Hallett, the housekeeper, who had been there for decades. She'd quickly become very protective of Brian and had no trouble pushing back if anyone had anything bad to say about him. There were nine cats on the property. The builders didn't like them either and treated them terribly. Meanwhile, Suki had broken up with Brian. She moved out and was replaced almost immediately by Anna Wolin.
Brian was determined that she not be harassed by Frank or any of his employees. It was all very tense and getting worse. The day before he died, Brian had allegedly told Mrs. Hallett that he was fed up with what was going on and was going to make some changes. Throughout the day on July 2nd, there were some altercations between the builders, other members of the farm staff, and some fans. It is possible, but not proven,
that Brian was about to announce a mass firing that night. The layoffs would include Frank and his crew. All payments would immediately stop. Let's move to the gathering by the pool after 11:00 PM that night. A lot of alcohol and drugs had been consumed, and whoever was left was quite drunk and stoned. We don't know the exact time Brian entered the pool or when he died because of conflicting accounts by witnesses.
All we know is that at 11.15, the last guest left for the night and police were called 10 minutes after midnight. So what really happened during that 55 minutes? Let's start with the simplest theory. Brian was drunk and high. He'd been having trouble with his asthma all day. When he entered the pool, he had an asthma attack and couldn't react because of his mental state and he drowned.
This, or some version of it, became the official narrative of what happened that night, and the case was officially closed on August 7th, 1969. The other theory, which seems to appear every five years or so, is that Brian and Frank, who were alone by the pool, got into a fight over the $8,000 that Frank was owed. There was a fight, and, well, it ended badly for Brian.
This story, or some version of it, has become the subject of much speculation and research with books, documentaries, and periodic appeals for the police to reopen the case of Brian Jones. There were questions about how the original police investigation was handled. At that time, there was a very antagonistic relationship between the police and anything to do with the Rolling Stones. This went back years to attempts by the police to arrest, charge, and jail members of the Stones on anything they could, especially drugs.
So what if one of the stones died? Good riddance. Not enough people were interviewed. Statements were not properly taken. Evidence was not correctly gathered. There were inconsistencies in the alibis of Frank, Anna, and Janet about what everyone had been doing earlier in the evening. And what was that bonfire all about? The morning after Brian died, Tom Keylock, the chauffeur, and the farm's gardener,
tried to burn all of Brian's things, clothes, books, even Brian's treasured leather-bound Bible. The death of Brian Jones wasn't investigated any further until something happened on Sunday, November 7th, 1993. Tom Keylock, Brian's former miner and chauffeur and all-around fixer for the Rolling Stones, went to visit Frank Thorogood, who was in the hospital.
Frank had not been well for a number of years. A bad heart, failing kidneys, broken lungs. He wasn't long for this world. As Keylock sat next to his old friend, he heard this. "There is something I have to tell you," Frank told Keylock. "But you must promise not to say a word to anyone while I'm still around." Keylock assured Frank that he'd stay quiet. And that's when Frank said, "It was me that did, Brian. I just finally snapped. It just happened."
That's all there is to it. It just happened. It just happened. And that's all Frank would say. Keylock said, look, you're tired. I'll come back tomorrow and you can tell me more. But before Keylock could return, Frank had died. Was this an actual deathbed confession? If so, then Brian Jones had been murdered. At the very least, it was manslaughter.
Shortly after Frank died, Keylock was interviewed by Terry Rawlins. This story appeared in a book called Who Killed Christopher Robin? The Truth Behind the Death of a Rolling Stone. And this set fire to the whole Brian was murdered story with books and documentaries and movies. Other stories about July 2nd, 1969 began to emerge. This is one picture of what allegedly was to have happened that night.
Earlier in the day, Brian and Frank got into a fight over money owed. Brian refused to pay unless Frank and his people would pack up and move out completely, including from the spot above the garage. The builder and the contractors weren't keen to go quietly. After all, they were living on the estate of a rock star and had access to Brian's money. Things got quite heated, but eventually both Brian and Frank calmed down. But at around 10 that night...
The argument started up again, and Brian allegedly suggested that everyone, me, Frank, Anna, and Janet, all cool down by going for a drink by the pool and maybe a swim. Anna and Janet didn't stick around for very long. Anna went to answer the phone, and Janet started noodling around on a guitar back at the house, leaving Brian and Frank alone. That's when the argument flared up for a third time. Frank flew into a rage, threw Brian into the pool, and repeatedly held Brian underwater until he went limp.
his lungs filled with water, and he sank to the bottom of the pool. Then Frank went back to the house. Where's Brian? One of the women asked. Still by the pool, said Frank. That's when Janet went out to check, and that's when she found Brian's body. She screamed. Anna came running out. When Frank didn't follow immediately, they both began to scream for him. When Frank finally showed up at the pool, he and Anna dragged the body out of the pool while Janet phoned for help.
When the police arrived, everyone was taken down to the station. Anna and Janet were questioned and released. Frank, though, was told he was a suspect and that they'd be pressing charges. However, no matter how much he was questioned, Frank stuck to his story. Brian was swimming. Frank went up to the house, about 30 meters away, to find a cigarette. And when he got back to the pool just minutes later, Brian was at the bottom. Although he was the last person to see Brian alive,
There was no evidence that he had anything to do with Brian's death. Then there's the story of Nicholas Fitzsimmons, a rumored member of the Guinness Brewing family and a friend of Brian's. He says he dropped by Cotchford at around 11 but was blocked from going up the drive by an unknown car. Parking on the road, Fitzgerald and his friend went through the bushes to the rear of the house. That's when they say they saw five people standing by the pool.
Suddenly, two more men emerged from the bushes behind them. One of them said, "Get out or you will be next." Fitzsimmons later disappeared from view, lost all his money, and was found washed up on a beach years later. Another alleged witness, identified only as Marty, says that he saw a couple of guys rough up Brian. Were they part of Frank's builder's crew who were mad at being stiffed and losing their cushy gigs? This account had these guys repeatedly holding Brian underwater until he died.
Let's go back to the five people who were allegedly seen standing by the pool. One of them may have been Joan Fitzsimmons, a cab driver who was often called to the farm to give people rides home. Was she there to take everyone away after the altercation with Brian? A couple of weeks later, she was blinded in a vicious attack by her young boyfriend, a Jordanian immigrant who beat her with an inch of her life with a large stone. That person, Mouchaser Yousef Zaidak,
may have later blabbed to a cellmate that he knew who killed Brian Jones. Anna Woolen, Brian's last girlfriend, also believed that Brian was murdered. She even wrote a book called "The Murder of Brian Jones." She admits to lying to police about where she was and what she was doing on that night on Frank's instructions.
More accusations. Frank spiked Brian's drinks to make it easier for him to drown. The coroner indeed found a large amount of speed in Brian's urine sample. Nine times that of the normal level. Police later found some speed in Frank's coat up at the house. Circumstantial, yes, but somewhat suspicious. Did the police cover everything up because they realized that the original investigation had been botched? That's another theory. And did Frank really make that deathbed confession to Tom Keylock?
Kealuk later denied everything after repeating it as late as 2005. He died on July 2nd, 2009, 40 years to the day that Brian was found in his swimming pool.
There were more weird stories associated with Brian Jones's death. One said that Princess Margaret was one of the people partying at Cotcher that night. Not true. That story has been debunked. It's possible that someone saw Joan Fitzgerald's full name somewhere and got confused. Her name is Priscilla Margaret Joan Ransel. So Priscilla Margaret, Princess Margaret? There's the story of a missing 60-page police file on the case.
And there's another theory that Brian died much earlier that night, maybe around 9:30 or so. And that the next couple of hours were spent trying to create alibis for everyone with Tom Keelock being the fixer behind everything. Some have concluded that he was also there that night and helped orchestrate a cover-up for what happened and when. There's even a theory thread that implicates Tom Keelock and Brian's murder.
This was the conclusion of an investigation launched by Alan Klein, the Stone's manager, who didn't believe the police at all. Anna Wolin, Brian's last girlfriend, also pointed the finger at him in a 1999 memoir. Nothing ever came of any of these allegations. Again, based on what we know for sure and the official police report, all of what I've just gone through is supposition and conjecture. Did some or all of this happen? We just don't know.
There was a police review in 1984. Nothing came of that. There was another in 1994. Again, zero to report. In August 2009, Sussex Police agreed to look into the case after being presented with more evidence. A year later, they declined to reopen any investigation. Meanwhile, though, two of Brian Jones' children are convinced that their father was murdered. With the memory of the case fading and with so many of the principals dying,
it's unlikely that we'll ever know what really happened to Brian Jones. You can catch up on all episodes of Uncharted by downloading them from your favorite podcast platform. Please rate and review if you get a chance. If you have any questions or comments, shoot me an email, alan at alancross.ca.
We can also meet up on all the social media sites along with my website, ajournalofmusicalthings.com. It's updated with music news and recommendations every day. And there's the free newsletter that you should get. Oh, and please check out my other podcast, The Ongoing History of New Music. There are hundreds and hundreds of episodes that you can enjoy for free. Technical Productions by Rob Johnston. I'm Alan Cross.
