Although he’s mostly forgotten now, Brian Jones is arguably the most important member of the Rolling Stones. For a start, he named the band and was the one who managed them in their early days and got them early concerts. A talented multi-instrumentalist who was one of the first slide guitar players from the UK.
So, when he was found dead in the swimming pool of his Crotchford Farm estate (previously known for being the home of Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne) aged just 27, the whole music world was in shock. As well as featuring on Stones recordings he had fingerprints on Beatles and Jimi Hendrix songs too and was loved within the community.
As I did with Jimi Hendrix, who would be also found dead at age 27 under mysterious circumstances less than two years later, I will look at five conspiracies around the former Stone’s death. The investigation is suspect at best, and it’s even debated as to the date that Jones actually died. This week the Beat Marches On to the 2nd or 3rd July 1969, depending on who you believe, the day that Brian Jones died
Frank Thorogood
When Jones moved into Crotchford Farm, it needed some building work done. He hired Thorogood to make the refurbishments to the house. It was only meant to be two weeks, but the restoration took several months, and the builder moved into a flat above the garage.
On the day of his death, Jones and Thorogood argued about money and the builder was let go due to the monetary troubles the former Rolling Stone was in. There are conflicting reports of whether it was the two play-fighting or an actual fight, but the two were in the pool and the guitarist was held down for too long.
In the documentary Rolling Stone: The Life and Death of Brian Jones, multiple people claimed there were up to about twenty people at the farm. A young police officer interviewed them, and they all said the same thing: It was Thorogood. However, when a senior member of the police turned up at the scene, he ignored the interviews.
This story is most likely closest to what happened because of how many people who are close to Jones have accused Thorogood. On his deathbed in 1993, he admitted to Tom Keylock (more on him below) that he killed the guitarist on that fateful summer’s night.
Tom Keylock
A former World War II veteran, Tom Keylock was employed by the Rolling Stones officially as the band’s chauffeur, but he was more the fixer for the band. Ie; get drugs for them, usher out the groupies etc, etc.
From reports, Keylock was a person you did not want to mess with. As mentioned above he was the person Thorogood admitted the killing to. Some accounts suggest that he coerced the confession from the builder.
In the days before Jones’s death, he started to hang around Crotchford Farm. There were claims of an affair with one of the permanent guests staying with the guitarist. He was acting suspiciously around the time too. Even before the incident happened, he was taking things from the house. He helped himself to a few of Jones’s possessions after his death.
Due to mistrust of the police investigations, The Stones’ manager Allen Klein hired some private investigators to see what happened. The report was never made public but a former road manager, Sam Cutler claimed he saw the report and Keylock was the lead suspect.
The brother of the chauffeur was a senior member of Scotland Yard’s CID and is widely believed he had some contact with the sketchy police work that has hindered any proper investigation.
Satanists
This one is a little farfetched, but some conspiracy theories are supposed to be wild. The last studio album that featured Brian Jones was called ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ Which was the Stones answer to The Beatles ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’. The album was slated by critics at the time but over the years it has been deemed good upon second listens.
With the obvious subject matter of the album title and people adding two and two equalling five, some individuals believe that Satanists inspired by the album sacrificed Jones to please their Satanic Overlord.
This is the most improbable conspiracy out of the lot as drowning seems too neat of a kill as a sacrifice. General Satanist beliefs are interlocked with blood. It would be more fitting for a cut across the throat or the wrists for sacrificial death.
The cover of the first post-Jones album, Through the Past Darkly: Big Hits 2, also had everyone up in arms who thought this was a true theory. The five members (including Jones) were lying down pointed in a five-point star or a pentagram, then on the back, there was a broken mirror over Jones’ picture.
The Royal Family
This rumour surfaced around the time Princess Diana died, with theorists convinced that the royal family had something to do with it, they tried to link Brian Jones’s death to the monarchy.
As The Rolling Stones were increasing in popularity, they were talking to more people in the social elite. Many Nobles had members of the band over for parties which included some illicit drugs and guests including members of the royal family, specifically Princess Margaret, the queen’s sister, who had a reputation for being a socialite throughout this time.
The royal family member was apparently having a secret affair with Jones visiting Crotchford Farm regularly, granted she had friends in the area but only one person of the hangers-on at the time mentioned any royals, chauffeur Tom Keylock responded to the rumour by claiming Elvis was there too.
This conspiracy seems to be just as unlikely as the previous one because, firstly you have to believe that the royal family have a group of assassins on hand like a Mafia crime family, and secondly it seemed the royal liked one of the Stones but not Jones. Lead singer Mick Jagger was more to her taste.
An Accident
Sometimes in cases like this, it could be the simplest answer is the right one. The initial coroner’s report claimed it was a death by misadventure and as no one knows what happened on that fateful night which led up to the crazy theories the fans make up in the first place, it could be Brian Jones suffered something while swimming in his pool.
The report did say that Jones’s liver was twice the size of a normal person of his stature. Although there weren’t high doses of drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of his death, it isn’t unlikely that the mix of the two caused him to blackout for a period while he was swimming, and no one was close to the pool at the time.
The former Stone was known for being the wild one of the band, experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Maybe it all came to a head on that summer night. However, the drugs in his system were prescribed by his doctor and were a type of anti-depressant and those around him said he was in good health for the first time in a while. The report on his death stated that Jones drowned in fresh water, not chlorinated water you would find in a swimming pool. Witnesses said there was a trough in the garden of his estate near the pool, which could be the freshwater source mentioned.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
The Conspiracy Theories Around the Death of Brian Jones: 50 Years Later ‹ CrimeReads
New suspect emerges in possible Brian Jones murder | Reuters
The Rolling Stones and the Mystery of Brian Jones’ Death | Den of Geek
The Documentary Rolling Stone: The Life and Death of Brian Jones is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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