George Harrison

Great Barrier Reef Australia 1980
George and Olivia Harrison very kindly invited me on a private week-long cruise round the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. One of the stops was a place called Hamilton Island, and George became fascinated by this beautifully plumaged parrot. I am fond of pictures where there is some sort of amusing juxtaposition. In this case, the parrot seems to match the galloping kangaroos pasted across the front of George’s T-shirt, and also, of course, he played ‘Long John Silver’ in one of Eric Idle’s ‘Rutland Weekend’ sketches, complete with a fake parrot on his shoulder. It was very rare that George was able to get right away from the pressures of his life and completely relax.