Tara Browne (4 March 1945 – 18 December 1966) was a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

socialite and heir to the Guinness fortune. His December 1966 death in a car crash was an inspiration for

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

' song " A Day in the Life".

Early life

Browne was the son of Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne, 2nd Baron Mereworth (an Anglo-Irish peer and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

who served in that house for 72 years, longer than any other peer up to that time, finally being evicted during government reforms in 1999) and

Oonagh Guinness Oonagh Guinness (22 February 1910 – 2 August 1995) was an Anglo-Irish socialite, society hostess and art collector, and the second wife of Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne. Early life She was born on 22 February 1910, the y ...

, an heiress to the Guinness fortune. Browne was a member of Swinging London's counterculture of the 1960s and had stood to inherit £1 million at age 25. In August 1963, at age 18, he married Noreen "Nicky" MacSherry; the couple had two sons, Dorian and Julian. For his 21st birthday, he threw a "lavish" party at

Luggala Luggala (), also called Fancy Mountain () at , is the 230th-highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin scale. Being below , it does not rank on the Vandeleur-Lynam or Hewitt scales. Luggala is in the northeastern section of the Wicklow Mounta ...

, the Gothic Browne family seat in the

Wicklow Mountains The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. ...

, where "two private jets flew the 200 or so guests to Ireland, including John Paul Getty,

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...

ndJones' then-girlfriend

Anita Pallenberg Anita Pallenberg (6 April 1942 – 13 June 2017) was a German-Italian actress, artist, and model. A style icon and "It Girl" of the 1960s and 1970s, Pallenberg was credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones: she was the romantic partner of the ...

." Browne induced his friend

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's first

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

trip in 1966, at Browne's home in

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dang ...

. His life was captured in Paul Howard's biography ''I Read the News Today, Oh Boy'', published in 2016.

Death

On 17 December 1966, Browne was driving with his girlfriend,

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

Suki Potier, in his

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through

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at high speed (some reports suggesting in excess of 106 mph/170 km/h). He was under the influence of alcohol and other drugs at the time. Browne failed to see a traffic light and proceeded through the junction of Redcliffe Square and Redcliffe Gardens, colliding with a parked

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

. He died of his injuries the following day. Potier claimed that Browne swerved the car to absorb the impact of the crash to save her life. Following his death, his estranged wife launched a public legal battle for custody of their two young children; Browne's mother also sought custody. A judge eventually ruled that the boys should live with their grandmother.

"A Day in the Life"

The death of Browne is captured in the song " A Day in the Life" by

, which was released on their 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. In a 1980 interview with ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' magazine,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

said, "I was reading the paper one day ..the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash." Lennon, who was a friend of Browne, read the coroner's verdict into Browne's death while composing music at his piano. It was this news which inspired him to write the following lines: In 1997,

gave a different explanation of these lines: However, in his 2021 book ''The Lyrics'', McCartney confirmed that the lyrics were about the death of Tara Browne.

References

External links

All Experts
(archived)
Beatles SongfactsI Read the News Today, Oh Boy - Paul Howard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Tara 1945 births 1966 deaths Road incident deaths in London Tara Browne Younger sons of barons The Beatles Irish socialites Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom People from Dublin (city)