Writings

It has been seven years since Hoppy died of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s accompanied – as it so often is – by Lewy Body Dementia. It is a slow and cruel death. In Hoppy’s case, it took just over seven years to kill him. It involves the slow atrophying of the mental faculties. Hoppy regarded it …

In 2008 an impressive hardback book appeared called ‘From the Hip’ containing photographs from the early sixties by John Hopkins, a central figure in the English counter culture of the 60s and a key protagonist in what was to become the video culture of the 70s and 80s. It includes iconic images of the known …

I first met Hoppy through George Clark when the London Free School was being set up. I was a second year design student at the LCP and had been working with George art editing his community magazine People and Politics. Hoppy was a magnet and a force for those who desired to make sense of …

Interview of Graham Keen conducted by Adam Blake, 20th July 2015 A.B: So, when did you first meet Hoppy? G.K: Right. I can’t remember the actual day but it was in August of 1960. I’d come out of the Air Force – I’d been doing my National Service – I’d come out at a bit …

Interview with Adam Ritchie conducted by Adam Blake, June 2nd 2015 A.B: So, when did you first meet Hoppy? A.R: I’m not quite sure, but my memory thinks it was through Nicole Letski. I went to school with her at the French Lycee in 56-58, and then I went to University in the States in …

Interview with Val Wilmer, conducted by Adam Blake, 4th August 2015 AB: Val, can you tell me please, when did you first meet Hoppy? VW: Well, Hoppy was a photographer when I first knew him. I’ve said elsewhere that I first saw him taking photographs at the Duke Ellington concerts in that horrible winter of …

Hoppy, who has died, aged 77, was co-founder of International Times, the UFO Club and the London Free School. During the intense two-year heyday of London’s fertile and diverse counterculture, he was the only true leader the movement ever had.

Several people told me at the burial that before hearing of Nicholas’s death but after it had happened, they had disturbing dreams, feelings or premonitions that something was wrong. As if there were a tug on a non-physical level between Nicholas and themselves. I have experienced similar tugs several times in my life (though not …

Hoppy remembers UFO.