That fortnight Allen and I hung out, yacking nineteen to the dozen about poetry, politics and so on. He was what I call ‘the real thing’, and his stay was entirely joyful. One night we threw a party for his 39th birthday, which George Harrison and Pattie Boyd attended with John and Cynthia Lennon. Allen was fairly drunk by the time they arrived, and greeted them wearing nothing but boxer shorts on his head and a do not disturb sign hung on his penis. The Beatles winced at this and left shortly afterwards, Lennon hissing at Allen, ‘You don’t do that in front of the birds.’ It was their loss. This photograph was taken at a reading Allen gave a few days later, at the ICA. He is in typical flow, and holding the Tibetan finger cymbals he often performed with.