Pattie Boyd

• 1. A Girl From Taunton

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  Patricia Anne Boyd was born on the 17th of March 1944 in Taunton, Somerset. Her father Colin Ian Langdon Boyd served in the Royal Air Force before the family moved to West Lothian in Scotland. There her brother Colin arrived in 1946. The Boyds then relocated to Guildford, Surrey where sister Jenny was born in 1947. After Jock's discharge from service they lived in Nairobi from 1948 until 1953. Youngest sister Paula was born at a hospital in Nakuru Kenya during that time.

  From age eight Boyd boarded at Nakuru School near Nairobi. During a half-term break she returned home and learned her parents had divorced. In December 1953 she and her siblings moved back to England with Diana and her new husband Bobbie Gaymer-Jones. She gained two half-brothers David and Robert Boo through this second marriage. Many years later she discovered she also had two half-sisters through Jock's second marriage.

  Boyd briefly attended Hazeldean School in Putney before moving to St Agnes and St Michael Convent Boarding School in East Grinstead. She finished at St Martha's Convent in Hadley Wood Hertfordshire. She achieved three GCE O level passes in 1961. That same year she moved to London and found work as a trainee beautician at Elizabeth Arden's Bond Street salon. A client who worked for Honey magazine inspired her to join an agency and begin modeling.

• 2. The British Look Emerges

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  Boyd began her fashion career in 1962 working first in London then Paris. Regular assignments included jobs for the UK edition of Vogue Vanity Fair Elle in France and Honey. Fashion spreads appeared in newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph and The Times. Photographers David Bailey Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy captured her image. She appeared on the cover of British Vogue.

  Other popular models like Twiggy based their appearance on Boyd. Journalist Tom Hibbert described Boyd and Jean Shrimpton as international celebrities embodying the British female look. This style featured mini-skirts long straight hair and wide-eyed loveliness. It defined Western fashion for women following the international popularity of the Beatles from 1964 onwards.

  In early 1964 Boyd appeared in a television advertising campaign for Smith's crisps directed by Richard Lester. He cast her as a schoolgirl in the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night. There she met lead guitarist George Harrison. Her modeling career skyrocketed after their romantic involvement began. Further assignments for Vogue and Vanity Fair followed along with jobs for Tatler and TV commercials for L'Oréal's Dop shampoo brand.

• 3. Swinging London And Spiritual Quests

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  Boyd and Harrison became leading couples during the Swinging London era. A 1966 article in the Daily Express called actors pop singers hairdressers and models London's new privileged class. UK underground writer Barry Miles later described her as by far the most glamorous of all the Beatles wives and girlfriends. Author Shawn Levy wrote that even more than Jane Asher Boyd epitomized what sixties stardom conferred upon its chosen.

  British fashion designer Mary Quant commented it had become requisite for contemporary women to strive to look like Pattie Boyd rather than Marlene Dietrich. Their aim was to look childishly young yet naïvely unsophisticated. It took more sophistication to work out that look than those early would-be sophisticates ever dreamed of.

  At Gloria Stavers request Boyd began writing a column titled Patti's Letter from London for American teen magazine 16. She reported on latest trends in Carnaby Street and informed readers about what the Beatles and Stones were wearing. She gave advice on how to turn dark curly hair straight and blonde. As she became target of hostility from Beatles female fans Harrison insisted she abandon her career to ensure privacy. In July 1968 she and sister Jenny opened boutique Jennifer Juniper in Chelsea Market selling antiques and objets d'art.

• 4. The Music Of Unrequited Love

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  In late 1960s Eric Clapton and George Harrison became close friends writing and recording music together. Clapton fell in love with Boyd at this time. He briefly dated Boyd's sister Paula in effort to satisfy his infatuation. His 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was written to proclaim his love for Boyd particularly hit song Layla.

  Clapton drew inspiration from The Story of Layla and Majnun by Persian writer Nizami. Tale concerns man driven to madness by unattainable love. Boyd's initial rebuffing of Clapton and his unrequited love eventually led him into heroin addiction and self-imposed exile between 1971 and 1974. In 1974 Clapton again pursued Boyd. Actor John Hurt recalled Harrison and Clapton staged guitar duel over Boyd at Friar Park. Air was electric nobody dare say a word.

  Boyd finally left Harrison on the 4th of July that year. She and Clapton married on the 27th of March 1979 in Tucson Arizona. They remained close friends with Harrison who took calling Clapton his husband-in-law. Boyd soon struggled within marriage and began drinking heavily though difficulties masked by public image. He later admitted abusing her while they were married and that he was full-blown alcoholic.

• 5. Through The Eye Of A Muse

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  First exhibition of photos appeared at San Francisco Art Exchange on Valentine's Day 2005 titled Through the Eye of a Muse. Show appeared in San Francisco and London during 2006 then La Jolla California in 2008. Exhibition also shown in Dublin November 2008 at Toronto Great Hall Gallery Blender Gallery Sydney Almaty Kazakhstan 2009-2010.

  Her exhibition Yesterday and Today: The Beatles and Eric Clapton showed Santa Catalina Island California National Geographic Headquarters Washington DC 2011. These displays brought together decades of portraits capturing rock legends behind the scenes. Boyd's work offered rare glimpse into private moments shared between artist and subject.