John Higgs is an English writer, novelist, journalist and cultural historian. The work of Higgs has been published in the form of novels (under the pseudonym JMR Higgs), biographies and works of cultural history. In particular, Higgs has written about the 1960s

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

, exemplified by writers, artists and activists such as

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American writer, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

and

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish people, Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias Ki ...

Career

Higgs began as a director of children’s television and was BAFTA-nominated for pre-school animation before going on to create and produce the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

quiz ''X Marks the Spot''. At

Climax Group Climax Studios is a British video game developer based in Portsmouth that is best known for their work on the 2004 action role-playing game '' Sudeki'' and the 2007 and 2009 survival horror video games '' Silent Hill: Origins'' and '' Silent H ...

studios he was videogame producer for games that appeared on

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 November, in Australia on 30 November, ...

and

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

including '' Crash 'n' Burn'' and '' ATV Quad Power Racing''. Higgs has written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''The

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' and ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' magazine. As an author, Higgs has written the novels ''The First Church on the Moon'' and ''The Brandy of the Damned''; biographies of Timothy Leary and the KLF; and works of history and cultural analysis. His book ''The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds'' was named one of the best music books of 2013 by ''The Guardian''. In 2023, Higgs collaborated with musician

Ian Broudie Ian Zachary Broudie (born 4 August 1958) is an English musician and singer-songwriter from Liverpool. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to produce albums (somet ...

on Broudie's memoir ''Tomorrow's Here Today''. In 2024 he co-founded the East Sussex Psychedelic Film Club with Richard Norris and Andy Starke. Higgs' latest book is ''Exterminate/Regenerate: The Story of

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', published in April 2025. Born in Rugby, Higgs grew up in Buckley, North Wales and now lives with his family in Brighton.

Robert Anton Wilson, ''Illuminatus!'' and ''Cosmic Trigger''

In his 2013 book, ''KLF'', Higgs’s interest in the American counter culture writer Robert Anton Wilson led to him writing about the stage play version of Wilson's ''

The Illuminatus! Trilogy ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy'' is a series of three novels by American writers Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, first published in 1975.''Illuminatus!'' was written between 1969 and 1971, but not published until 1975 according to Robert Anto ...

'' books as directed by

Ken Campbell Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, director and writer. He was known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Campbell achieved notoriety ...

and which were performed at the National Theatre in 1977. During Higgs’s research, he interviewed Campbell’s wife, the actress

Prunella Gee Prunella Mary Gee (born 17 February 1950) is an English counsellor, therapist and former actress, best known for her work as an actress in the 1970s and 1980s, and for the role of Doreen Heavey in ''Coronation Street'', a part she first played ...

, and learned that their daughter, Daisy Eris Campbell, was at the time thinking about staging a theatrical version of Wilson's ''

Cosmic Trigger The ''Cosmic Trigger'' trilogy is a three-volume autobiographical and philosophical work by Robert Anton Wilson. The first volume of the series was published in 1977, initially published without numbering, as the second volume did not appear fo ...

''. Higgs supported and championed the production of the play with various talks around the country and the play was eventually staged in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2014 and staged again at The Cockpit Theatre in London in 2017. Higgs involvement in the ''Cosmic Trigger'' play led to Robert Anton Wilson's estate – the Robert Anton Wilson Trust – to ask him to write an introduction for a new edition of ''Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati'', published by the Wilson estate's new imprint, Hilaritas Press, in 2016.

Books

Biographies and history

* ''I Have America Surrounded: The Life of Timothy Leary'' (

The Friday Project The Friday Project was a London-based independent publishing house, founded by Paul Carr and Clare Christian in June 2004. It evolved out of ''The Friday Thing'', an Internet newsletter taking an offbeat look at the week's politics, media act ...

, 2006) * ''The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds'' (

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

, 2013) * ''2000TC: Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On'' (2014), in a limited edition of 111 copies * ''Our Pet Queen: A New Perspective on Monarchy'' (Signal, 2014) * ''Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016) * ''

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

: Travels Through Britain and Its Ever-Present Past'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017) * ''The Future Starts Here: Adventures in the Twenty-First Century'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2019) * ''William Blake Now: Why He Matters More Than Ever'' (

Hachette UK Hachette Livre S.A. (; simply known as Hachette) is a French publishing group that was based in Paris. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif which later became successively L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette ...

, 2019) * ''William Blake vs the World'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2021) * ''Love and Let Die: Bond, The Beatles and the British Psyche'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022) (Pegasus Books, 2023) * ''Exterminate/Regenerate: The Story of Doctor Who'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2025)

Fictional works as JMR Higgs

* ''The Brandy of the Damned'' (The Big Hand Books, 2012) * ''The First Church on the Moon'' (The Big Hand Books, 2013)Amazon: The First Church on the Moon
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Contributor

* '' Cosmic Trigger - The Final Secret of the Illuminati'' - Introduction by John Higgs (Hilaritas Press, 2016) * '' Who Killed the KLF?'' (Documentary)

References

External links

Website

John Higgs
at

Orion Publishing Group Orion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It was founded in 1991 and acquired Weidenfeld & Nicolson the following year. The group has published numerous bestselling books by notable authors including Ian Rankin, Michael Connell ...

John Higgs
at

Interview with John Higgs

Interview by The Quietus

Video interview on The Agenda

Interview by The Bookseller about Watling Street

Presentation at the University of Kent on the legacy of Timothy Leary

Video of Alan Moore and John Higgs in conversation

KLF: Chaos, Magic, Music, Money review by The Quietus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgs, John 1974 births English male journalists English columnists English writers English sceptics Living people The Guardian journalists