Mike, my boss, told me to pick up Jimi Hendrix (meant nothing to me) using the Phantom (Rolls-Royce Phantom five numberplate JH V 9 D) yes I do remember the numberplate. My boss purchased a Phantom six and had the Phantom five changed to look like it and we had following number plates.9D and 10D.
I picked him up from somewhere north of Oxford Street and went to the bottom of the Kings Road where we collected a young lady. He was very obviously trying to impress her. We drove back up the Kings Road towards Sloane Square. He suddenly said "stop Bill". He got out and went across the road to a florist shop. He came back out with armfuls of flowers and dumped them on the lap of the young lady.
Still stationary they played around with flowers a bit and Jimi said "let me put a rose in your hat". I declined and explained to him that the reason our company is chosen is because we always try to be proper and efficient. He was so persuasive and such a nice guy. I handed him my hat and he put the rose on.
He then said "drive on Bill and stop when I tell you". So I did. He called out "stop". Wound the window down and offered a small bunch of flowers to a passerby. Saying "peace". And then "drive on Bill".
We did this a few times and then somebody suddenly shouted "oh Christ it's Jimi Hendrix!" We drove on quickly and that ended it.
I remember this simply because it was different. How many other times I drove him I will never be able to remember because nothing "different" happened.
I was also driving Eric Burdon. It could have been the next day or the day after or even the day after that. We were parked in a layby near Guildford in Surrey. It was very early in the morning we were waiting for the sun to come up. They were doing a shoot for his next album and it would be naked ladies dancing on the nearby downs. So everybody had to keep out of the way until the right moment.
Bear in mind that I was simply an extension to the steering wheel a lot of the time. Eric Burdon started to tell me how distraught he was being with Jimi Hendrix when he died. He told me that he choked on some tablets he was taking and died from breathing in his vomit. He knew that I was also driving Jimi Hendrix and that's why he spoke about it.
When I mentioned to my boss Mike that Jimi Hendrix was dead he said "yes I know, I was driving him on the day he died. I dropped him at his place in Kensington and apparently that's where it happened".
Bill.
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