Stop 3 of 8
John Lennon used The Shakespeare's Head as a starting point for Soho nights in 1963 and 1964, when Carnaby Street was still the real thing. It's a Wetherspoons now, which means cheap pints and carpet, but look up at the first-floor facade: there's a bust of Shakespeare with a hand missing, blown off by the Luftwaffe. The London Palladium is a two-minute walk away — the Beatles performed there on 13 October 1963, the Sunday Night broadcast that's widely credited with igniting Beatlemania. Around the corner, the old Marlborough Street Magistrates Court has its own Beatles footnote: Lennon appeared there charged with exhibiting sexually explicit artwork. Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Johnny Rotten all had their own dates in the same courtroom.