Home   Dartford   News   Article

Little Read Rooster: Rolling Stones hell-raiser Keith Richards has £3,000 in unpaid fines at Dartford library

Dartford hellraiser Keith Richards
Dartford hellraiser Keith Richards

You Can't Always Get What You Want - and for Dartford library staff that includes about £3,000 in unpaid fines from hell-raiser Keith Richards.

The Rolling Stones guitarist says the Central Park library was one of his favourite places while growing up.

But his fondness for a paperback fix means, he says, that he probably still owes fines from about 50 years ago. With daily fines of 15p, inflation and admin fees, the total is thought to be around £3,000.

The 69-year-old said: "It was a place where you get a hint there was a place called civilisation.

"I still owe fines from about 50 years ago."

Time is on his side though as Kent County Council says it will not be actively pursuing the rock legend for the cash.

Kent's head of libraries Cath Anley said: "Unfortunately any of our books missing since the 1960s will have been removed from our records many years ago.

"Libraries are very different places to the way they were then, and all loans are now recorded and tracked on our computer system.

"We are really delighted that Keith Richards has said how useful the library was for him in his youth, and if he would like to come and visit and help us spread the word about what a great service this is, he would more than compensate us for the books he didn't return."

The Rollings Stones on tour in Australia
The Rollings Stones on tour in Australia

Sir Mick and Keith Richards first crossed paths aged seven.

The pair were pictured in a previously-unseen school photograph as pupils of Dartford’s Wentworth Primary School, where they enrolled in 1951.

The duo went to separate secondary schools, Jagger attending Dartford Grammar and Richards at Dartford Technical School in Wilmington.

Noticing they both carried guitar cases, they rekindled their relationship in 1961 at Dartford railway station, where a commemoration of that meeting is being planned.

Close This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Learn More