Jeff & Celia.

Truth.

I was very sorry to hear last night that Jeff Beck had passed away after a short illness at the age of 78. When I was at college over 50 years ago Hi Ho Silver Lining was always the highlight of the Saturday night disco. Jeff was one of the greatest guitar players of all time. I never saw him play live, but last summer I was hoping he might put in a surprise appearance with Johnny Depp at Glastonbury because they had just made an album together and were on tour. It never happened unfortunately. Reading about him today online I found out that Jeff had been a vegetarian since 1969. I am sure that was due to the influence of his long-time partner Celia Hammond. They met in 1968 and were together until 1992. 

A composite picture of Celia is on the cover of Jeff’s first solo album Truth. In many ways I find Celia just as much a fascinating character as Jeff. She was one of the top fashion models of the 1960s and could be seen on the cover of all the magazines of the time. She often modeled in fur coats, until she realised the terrible cruelty that animals suffered in order for rich people to parade around in fur. Celia visited Canada and witnessed first hand the horrors of the annual seal cull. From then on, she refused to model fur coats and persuaded many of the other top models to do the same. It is partly due to her work that it became very politically uncool for the wealthy to wear real fur. Celia was a friend of Donovan, and he wrote one of his best songs about her called Celia of the Seals. 

It is a favourite of mine and I have shared it below if you want to hear it. Celia got more involved in animal welfare, particularly with cats and dogs and gave up her career in fashion to care for animals. In 1986 she founded the Celia Hammond Animal Trust with the aim of opening a low-cost neutering clinic to control the feral animal population. In 1995, the trust opened London's first low-cost neuter clinic in Lewisham. A second clinic opened in Canning Town in 1999. The Celia Hammond Animal Trust also runs a sanctuary in Brede, East Sussex, for animals which need new homes. In addition to neutering animals, the clinics (and sanctuary) also help to rescue and rehome animals, and now find homes for thousands of cats each year. 

Since the pandemic they have struggled financially to keep their work going. I visited their website this morning and made a small donation. You can find it here if you are interested. https://www.celiahammond.org/  Celia and Jeff split up in 1992, but I’m sure they remained friends. Jeff was happily married to Sandra Cash since 2005 and was a patron of the Folly Wildlife Rescue Trust and his estate in Sussex was a haven for many animals and birds. Celia is 80 now, but still working seven days a week on her animal rescue work, but I’m sure the great Jeff Beck will be very much in her thoughts today.

At David Bowie's party, Cafe Royal 1973. Back row, ?, Angie Bowie, David Bowie, Bianca Jagger, Edgar Broughton, Front row, Maureen Starkey, Mick Ronson, Lulu, Jeff Beck, Celia Hammond, Ringo Starr.