the Pheasantry as his British studio. The Pheasantry Club Following the retirement of Felix Joubert in 1932, the basement became a bohemian restaurant and drinking club patronised by actors and artists, including Augustus John, Dylan Thomas, Humphrey Bogart, and Francis Bacon. It was run by an Italian called Reny De Meo. Lynda Bellingham recalls that in the 1960s Anthony Hopkins would "hold court" there doing an impression of Richard Burton doing Dylan Thomas. The club closed in 1966 after the death of the owner Mario Cazzini, and the building was converted into apartments and the basement into a nightclub. 1960s Among those living at The Pheasantry in the 1960s were David Litvinoff who worked in Tim Whidborne's studio there, the writer Anthony Haden-Guest, the musician Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp of Oz magazine who shared a studio there, Germaine Greer, Robert Whitaker, Philippe Mora, Freya Mathews and Nicky Kramer. Clapton only escaped being arrested on drugs charges by Norman Pilcher, who rang the doorbell to announce "postman, special delivery", by escaping from the rear of the building. By this time, the building was starting to deteriorate. One visitor, Mick Farren, recalled: "It was falling down. It had gone through its popular phase, but no money had been put back into it to fix the roof and stuff, and the roofs were leaking and everything was kind of coming apart". The sound from the nightclub in the basement could be heard through the floorboards in the studios above. The club had seen better days. Barry Miles recalls it as a venue where "the likelihood of having your drink spiked with acid was pretty high". Another said: "It would be an R & B club for a bit ... then it'd become a gay club for a while ... [it] always seemed to be hosting various floating crap games, some of which were R & B, some of which were folk music and some of which were gay. I think also it had a back room where the doors were closed and people went on drinking, and I think there were gangsters involved." According to Miles, one King's Road character who lived at the Pheasantry had a pet rabbit, which he dyed bright green and may have given acid to, that "committed suicide" by leaping from the roof. Miles said: "He was a fucking mad idiot. I mean, there were a lot