Paul McCartney recalls:
“It always seems to have been summer. All the memories seem to be of gardens, leaves in full bloom, grass very long, flies in the air, things humming.”
A benefit all-night concert was held on 29th April for the underground newspaper, International Times, at Alexandra Palace. It was billed as “The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream” and among those who volunteered their services were Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono, Soft Machine, The Move, Pete Townshend, and The Pretty Things. An estimated 10,000 attended.Daevid Allen of Soft Machine recalls:
“After we finished I wandered among the huge crowds. All my life I had felt an outsider, a freak, totally at odds with my time. Now, suddenly, I realised for the first time I was not alone. I was surrounded by thousands of other versions of myself. I was part of a tribe, a movement and a gigantic soul.”
The Labour MP Tom Driberg attempts to persuade Mick Jagger to stand for parliament. Marianne Faithfull recalls:
“He came over one afternoon with Allen Ginsberg to ask Mick to run for a seat. And, at this point, Mick really could have done it. Mick was very principled then. He had been taken aback by the vindictiveness of the Establishment following the Redlands bust. [After a police raid on Keith Richards’s house in Sussex, Jagger had been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for possession of amphetamines and Richards a year for allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property. Both sentences were quashed on appeal.] He was going around saying a lot of semi-radical things at that time.
“It was all taken quite seriously. Driberg went into all the possible objections: ‘What about touring and all that? My first commitment is to my music, so I wouldn’t want to give that up to sit behind a desk.’
“‘Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem. You could still carry on with your music and still do something very important for the party.’
“‘I mean, I don’t exactly see myself scrutinising the Water Works Bill inch by inch, if you know what I mean.’
“‘Dear boy, we wouldn’t expect you to attend to day-to-day ephemera. We see you more as, uh, a figurehead, like, you know…’
“‘The Queen?’ said Mick. ‘Precisely!’”
Roy Strong, aged 31, had been appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery. He recalls in his diary:
“For the first few months I decided that I had to conform to some preconceived directorial image, so I had two wardrobes, one of which, made up of safe suits and sober ties, was for the Gallery. It wasn’t long before the strain of being Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde began to tell and I thought they must have appointed me for what I am, warts and all, and decided to be myself. From that moment everything took off, and Strong of the fedora hat and maxi-coat, the Regency velvet jacket and ruffled shirt, stepped into the media limelight.”
The UFO club in Tottenham Court Road ran every Friday until the end of July. The initial house band was Pink Floyd, whose drummer, Nick Mason, recalls:
“Endless rock groups, that’s what the underground meant to most people, but that wasn’t what UFO really was… A number of people would do a number of things, rather than simply one band performing. There would be some mad actors, a couple of light shows, perhaps the recitation of some poetry and a lot of wandering about and a lot of cheerful chatter.”
Pete Townshend of The Who recalls abuse among the hedonism:
“I remember being in UFO with my girlfriend, dancing under the influence of acid. My girlfriend used to go out with no knickers and no bra on, in a dress that looked as if it was made out of a cake wrapper and I remember a bunch of mod boys, still doing leapers [speed], literally touching her up while she was dancing and she didn’t know that they were doing it. I was just totally lost… and there’s my young lads coming down to see what’s happening: ‘Fuckin’ hell, there’s Pete Townshend, and he’s wearing a dress [at UFO, he wore ‘hippie garb’].”
Brigid Keenan, fashion editor of the Sunday Times, recalls:
“My starriest piece was on the Beatles’s wives; well, three wives and a sister-in-law: Maureen Starr, Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison and her sister Jenny, because Paul didn’t have a wife then. They were eager to promote their new discovery: a group of Dutch hippy designers called The Fool—whose crazy clothes they loved and wore themselves, and had chosen to stock in the Beatles’s boutique, Apple, which was about to open in Baker Street.
“We met up in the studio and I was amazed at how pleasant and unspoiled they seemed to be; I don’t remember any security people being there, and I don’t think we even had a hairdresser. I felt a bit sorry for Cynthia because, though the others all had the same Sixties look with pretty elfin faces almost hidden by their long hair and fringes, she was in a different mould—a bit plumper (which is why we put her at the back) and round-faced, and I had to spend some time getting her curlier, shorter hair to look the same as everyone else.”
Joe Boyd, record producer and co-founder of UFO, recalls:
“My trip to the USA for Newport Folk Festival in early August led to a visit from Joni Mitchell. Her first night at my flat was brought to a spectacular end by the Flying Squad breaking down the door at 6am. They had a search warrant for ‘seditious literature, guns and ammunition.’ My flatmate Tod [Floyd] had come to the attention of the police by providing bail for Michael X when the Black Power leader was arrested for incitement to riot. His photograph leaving court with Michael appeared in the Daily Telegraph and his name must have gone into a few notebooks. We had to stand in the hallway in dressing gowns while they took the flat apart. They opted not to plant any drugs or bombs, but it was certainly an exciting welcome to London for Joni.”
“It always seems to have been summer. All the memories seem to be of gardens, leaves in full bloom, grass very long, flies in the air, things humming.”
A benefit all-night concert was held on 29th April for the underground newspaper, International Times, at Alexandra Palace. It was billed as “The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream” and among those who volunteered their services were Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono, Soft Machine, The Move, Pete Townshend, and The Pretty Things. An estimated 10,000 attended.Daevid Allen of Soft Machine recalls:
“After we finished I wandered among the huge crowds. All my life I had felt an outsider, a freak, totally at odds with my time. Now, suddenly, I realised for the first time I was not alone. I was surrounded by thousands of other versions of myself. I was part of a tribe, a movement and a gigantic soul.”
The Labour MP Tom Driberg attempts to persuade Mick Jagger to stand for parliament. Marianne Faithfull recalls:
“He came over one afternoon with Allen Ginsberg to ask Mick to run for a seat. And, at this point, Mick really could have done it. Mick was very principled then. He had been taken aback by the vindictiveness of the Establishment following the Redlands bust. [After a police raid on Keith Richards’s house in Sussex, Jagger had been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for possession of amphetamines and Richards a year for allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property. Both sentences were quashed on appeal.] He was going around saying a lot of semi-radical things at that time.
“It was all taken quite seriously. Driberg went into all the possible objections: ‘What about touring and all that? My first commitment is to my music, so I wouldn’t want to give that up to sit behind a desk.’
“‘Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem. You could still carry on with your music and still do something very important for the party.’
“‘I mean, I don’t exactly see myself scrutinising the Water Works Bill inch by inch, if you know what I mean.’
“‘Dear boy, we wouldn’t expect you to attend to day-to-day ephemera. We see you more as, uh, a figurehead, like, you know…’
“‘The Queen?’ said Mick. ‘Precisely!’”
Roy Strong, aged 31, had been appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery. He recalls in his diary:
“For the first few months I decided that I had to conform to some preconceived directorial image, so I had two wardrobes, one of which, made up of safe suits and sober ties, was for the Gallery. It wasn’t long before the strain of being Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde began to tell and I thought they must have appointed me for what I am, warts and all, and decided to be myself. From that moment everything took off, and Strong of the fedora hat and maxi-coat, the Regency velvet jacket and ruffled shirt, stepped into the media limelight.”
The UFO club in Tottenham Court Road ran every Friday until the end of July. The initial house band was Pink Floyd, whose drummer, Nick Mason, recalls:
“Endless rock groups, that’s what the underground meant to most people, but that wasn’t what UFO really was… A number of people would do a number of things, rather than simply one band performing. There would be some mad actors, a couple of light shows, perhaps the recitation of some poetry and a lot of wandering about and a lot of cheerful chatter.”
Pete Townshend of The Who recalls abuse among the hedonism:
“I remember being in UFO with my girlfriend, dancing under the influence of acid. My girlfriend used to go out with no knickers and no bra on, in a dress that looked as if it was made out of a cake wrapper and I remember a bunch of mod boys, still doing leapers [speed], literally touching her up while she was dancing and she didn’t know that they were doing it. I was just totally lost… and there’s my young lads coming down to see what’s happening: ‘Fuckin’ hell, there’s Pete Townshend, and he’s wearing a dress [at UFO, he wore ‘hippie garb’].”
Brigid Keenan, fashion editor of the Sunday Times, recalls:
“My starriest piece was on the Beatles’s wives; well, three wives and a sister-in-law: Maureen Starr, Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison and her sister Jenny, because Paul didn’t have a wife then. They were eager to promote their new discovery: a group of Dutch hippy designers called The Fool—whose crazy clothes they loved and wore themselves, and had chosen to stock in the Beatles’s boutique, Apple, which was about to open in Baker Street.
“We met up in the studio and I was amazed at how pleasant and unspoiled they seemed to be; I don’t remember any security people being there, and I don’t think we even had a hairdresser. I felt a bit sorry for Cynthia because, though the others all had the same Sixties look with pretty elfin faces almost hidden by their long hair and fringes, she was in a different mould—a bit plumper (which is why we put her at the back) and round-faced, and I had to spend some time getting her curlier, shorter hair to look the same as everyone else.”
Joe Boyd, record producer and co-founder of UFO, recalls:
“My trip to the USA for Newport Folk Festival in early August led to a visit from Joni Mitchell. Her first night at my flat was brought to a spectacular end by the Flying Squad breaking down the door at 6am. They had a search warrant for ‘seditious literature, guns and ammunition.’ My flatmate Tod [Floyd] had come to the attention of the police by providing bail for Michael X when the Black Power leader was arrested for incitement to riot. His photograph leaving court with Michael appeared in the Daily Telegraph and his name must have gone into a few notebooks. We had to stand in the hallway in dressing gowns while they took the flat apart. They opted not to plant any drugs or bombs, but it was certainly an exciting welcome to London for Joni.”
