The London Free School (LFS) was founded on 8 March 1966, principally by John "Hoppy" Hopkins and

Rhaune Laslett Rhaune Laslett (15 November 1919 – 28 April 2002) was a community activist and the principal organiser of the Notting Hill Fayre or Festival, that evolved into the Notting Hill Carnival. Biography Rhaune Laslett was born Freda Pulverness i ...

Description

The London Free School was a community action adult education project inspired by American free universities (and the Victorian Jewish Free School in Spitalfields). The organisers have been described as an "anarchic temporary coalition" of the old guard New Left and

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

housing activists from the Rachman days and the new beatnik/

hippy A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

generation. The former included George Clark of the Notting Hill Community Workshop, Richard Hauser (who ran a community scheme after the

1958 riots The 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Ceylon, also known as the 58 riots, refer to the first island-wide ethnic riots and pogrom to target the minority Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon after it became an independent dominion from Britain in 1 ...

), Rhaune and Jim Laslett-O’Brien, Bill Richardson of the Powis and Colville Residents Association, Andre and Barbara Shervington. To varying degrees of involvement, the hippy contingent numbered John Hopkins,

Michael X Michael X (17 August 1933 – 16 May 1975), born Michael de Freitas, was a Trinidad and Tobago-born self-styled Black power, black revolutionary and Civil and political rights, civil rights Activism, activist in 1960s London. He was also know ...

, Courtney Tulloch ('' IT''), Lloyd Hunter,

Peter Jenner Peter Julian Jenner (born 3 March 1943) is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises. Early career Peter Jenner is the son of Willia ...

(who was just starting to manage Pink Floyd),

Joe Boyd Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked on recordings of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Ba ...

of Elektra Records and UFO, Andrew King,

Michael Horovitz Michael Yechiel Ha-Levi Horovitz (4 April 1935 – 7 July 2021) was a German-born British poet, editor, visual artist and translator who was a leading part of the Beat Poetry scene in the UK. In 1959, while still a student, he founded the "tr ...

John Michell John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation. Considered "o ...

Julie Felix Julie Ann Felix (June 14, 1938 – March 22, 2020) was an American-British folk singer and recording artist who achieved success, particularly on British television, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She later performed and released albums on h ...

Jeff Nuttall Jeffrey Addison Nuttall (8 July 1933 – 4 January 2004) was an English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, anarchist and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of l ...

, Mike McInnerney ( ''Tommy'' artist), Graham Keen (''IT''),

Neil Oram Neil R. G. Oram is a British musician, poet, artist and playwright. He is known for his 10-play cycle, ''The Warp'', directed by Ken Campbell. Soho, jazz, art and poetry career In Africa, Oram met musician Michael Gibbs (composer), Mike G ...

(The Warp), Dave Tomlin ('' IT''),

Felix de Mendelssohn Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

('' Children of Albion''),

Nigel Waymouth Nigel Waymouth (born 1941) is a designer and artist, a co-partner in the boutique, Granny Takes a Trip, and one of the two-man team, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, which designed psychedelic posters in the 1960s. He has since had a solo career, i ...

Granny Takes a Trip Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse. The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mi ...

John Esam The International Poetry Incarnation was an event at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 11 June 1965. Background In May 1965, Allen Ginsberg arrived at Better Books, an independent bookstore in London's Charing Cross Road, and offered to read anyw ...

Alexander Trocchi Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi ( ; 30 July 1925 – 15 April 1984) was a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist. Early life and career Trocchi was born in Glasgow to Alfred (formerly Alfredo) Trocchi, a music-hall performer of I ...

, the jazz writer Ron Atkins, the

Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

star

Kate Heliczer Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

, Harvey Matusow (the McCarthy witchtrials saboteur),

R. D. Laing Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illnessin particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment o ...

and "the Belsize Park shrinks",

Emily Young Emily Young FRBS (born 1951) is a sculptor, who has been called "Britain's greatest living stone sculptor". She was born in London into a family of artists, writers and politicians. She currently divides her time between studios in London and It ...

, Anjelica Huston and Pink Floyd. According to Jeff Nuttall, "Ultimately the Free School did nothing but put out a local underground newsletter and organise the 2 Notting Hill Gate Festivals, which were, admittedly, models of exactly how the arts should operate – festive, friendly, audacious, a little mad and all taking place on demolition sites, in the streets, and in a magnificently institutional church hall." Despite this opinion, the formation of the "Notting Hill Neighbourhood Service" (one of the first centres to offer drug and legal advice in London), the Notting Hill Carnival, the '' International Times'' and the

UFO Club The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by Joe Boyd and John "Hoppy" Hopkins. It featured light shows, poetry readings, well-known rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix, ...

all emerged from the brief life of the LFS. Also significant was the early development of Pink Floyd, who played at All Saints Church Hall, initially as part of the Notting Hill Fayre (Carnival), and then a series of fund-raising concerts for the LFS. These were among the earliest gigs by the band, coming between their Spontaneous Underground period at

The Marquee The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...

and the start of the UFO Club.Glenn Povey, ''Echoes: The Complete History of Pink Floyd'', 2007.

References

External links

Courtney Tulloch article
in ''IT'' on the LFS
"The Formation of the LFS and UFO Club - John 'Hoppy' Hopkins talks to Youth about the beginnings of the Free School, UFO club, Pink Floyd and the Carnival"
''International Times''. * Dave Tomlin
"A Tale of 'Hoppy' - It is the summer of 1966 and the location is The London Free School in Notting Hill Gate"
''Tales from the Embassy''. ''International Times''. {{UK underground Underground culture British culture History of subcultures Counterculture Information centres Social centres in the United Kingdom DIY culture Counterculture festivals activists