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 an English 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 P ...

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 Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

). The organisers have been described as an "anarchic temporary coalition" of the old guard

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

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 Rachman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abdul Rachman (born 1988), Indonesian professional footballer * Arsyadjuliandi Rachman (born 1960), Indonesian politician * Budhy Munawar-Rachman (born 1963), Indonesian progressive I ...

days and the new

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti- materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms ...

hippy A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to different countries around the w ...

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 Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon after it became an independent dominio ...

), 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 revolutionary, convicted murderer, and civil rights activist in 1960s London. He was also known as Michael Abdul Malik and A ...

, 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 Will ...

(who was just starting to manage

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Joe Boyd Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked with Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny who was in Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The ...

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

and UFO, Andrew King,

Michael Horovitz Michael W. 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 "trail-blazing" l ...

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 "on ...

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, performer, author, actor, teacher, painter, sculptor, jazz musician, anarchist and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was ...

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

Neil Oram Neil Oram (born 2 January 1938) is a British musician, poet, artist, and playwright. He is best known for his 10-play cycle, ''The Warp'', directed by Ken Campbell. Soho, jazz, art and poetry career While in Africa, Oram met musician Mi ...

(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, S ...

('' 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 is a term and nickname for a grandmother, a female grandparent Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexu ...

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 Scottish novelist. Early life and career Trocchi was born in Glasgow to Alfred (formerly Alfredo) Trocchi, a music-hall performer of Italian parentage, and Annie ...

, the jazz writer Ron Atkins, the

Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

star Kate Heliczer,

Harvey Matusow Harvey Job Matusow (October 3, 1926 – January 17, 2002) was an American communist who became an informer for the FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation and subsequently a paid witness for a variety of anti-subversion bodies, including the House U ...

(the McCarthy witchtrials saboteur), R. D. Laing and "the Belsize Park shrinks",

Emily Young Emily Young FRBS (born 1951) is a British 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 Londo ...

Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress, director and model. She is best known for playing Morticia Addams in the ''The Addams Family'' and '' The Addams Family Values'', as well as often portraying eccentric and distincti ...

and

. 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 Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London since 1966

, the ''

International Times ''International Times'' (''it'' or ''IT'') is the name of various Underground press, underground newspapers, with the original title founded in London in 1966 and running until October 1973. Editors included John Hopkins (p ...

'' and the

UFO Club The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived UK underground, British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by Joe Boyd and John Hopkins (political activist), John "Hoppy" Hopkins. It featured light shows, poetry r ...

all emerged from the brief life of the LFS. Also significant was the early development of

, who played at

All Saints Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania * All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, Queensland *All ...

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 in London, England, that opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End. It was the location of the first live performance b ...

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 Culture of the United Kingdom History of subcultures Counterculture Information centres Social centres in the United Kingdom DIY culture Counterculture festivals activists