John Hopkins (journalist)

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John "Hoppy" Hopkins (born August 15, 1937 in Slough , Berkshire , England , † January 30, 2015 ) was a British photographer, journalist and political activist. He is considered one of the central figures of the London underground scene in the 1960s and 1970s.

biography

Hopkins graduated from the University of Cambridge with degrees in physics and math when he was 20 . He worked for about 3 years as a nuclear physicist for the British Atomic Energy Agency . He and a friend traveled to Russia in a converted hearse to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. When he returned in early 1960, he started working as a photographer for newspapers and magazines in London . He photographed emerging musicians like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones , but also the darker sides of the city with poverty, prostitution, drug addicts and fetishists.

In the mid-1960s, Hopkins was at the center of the burgeoning underground scene . He photographed many peace marches, poetry readings and happenings as well as the central heads of the counterculture , including Allen Ginsberg and Malcolm X , for example .

Together with Rhaune Laslett and others, Hopkins founded the London Free School in Notting Hill in 1966 . This led to the emergence of the Notting Hill Carnival (initially organized by Rhaune Laslett ), the underground magazine International Times (Hopkins with Barry Miles ) and the UFO Club (Hopkins with Joe Boyd ).

In 1967 Hopkins was arrested for possession of cannabis . On June 1, he was sentenced to 9 months in prison, 6 of which he served; the judge had described him as "a pest to society ". As a result of the ruling, a “free hoppy” movement and a campaign to liberalize cannabis use emerged. On July 24, 1967, a full-page advertisement appeared in the Times , which described the drug law at the time as "fundamentally immoral and impractical" (immoral in principle and unworkable in practice) ; The Beatles were among the signatories, and Paul McCartney sponsored the ad .

After his release, Hopkins married one of the girls from Frank Zappa's stage show, where she appeared as " Suzy Creamcheese ". A little later she disappeared again. Hopkins never married a second time.

In the early 1970s, Hopkins became head of the video department at the Institute for Research in Art and Technology in London. This led to research projects with national and international authorities. His occupation with botany and biochemistry gave him a part-time job at the University of Westminster .

In 2008 there was in London under the title “John Hopkins: John, Yoko, Mick. . . and me ”an exhibition of Hopkins photographs from the period 1961–1966.

John Hopkins died on January 30, 2015 at the age of 77.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Ben Machell: John Hopkins: John, Yoko, Mick. . . and me  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Times, June 3, 2009 (English)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / sixties-l.blogspot.de  
  2. ↑ Rose Troup Buchanan: John 'Hoppy' Hopkins: Photographer of London's swinging sixties dies. Obituary in The Independent of January 31, 2015 (accessed January 31, 2015).
personal data
SURNAME Hopkins, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoppy (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British photographer, journalist and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Slough , Berkshire , England
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 2015