DRURY LANE 1969 10

DRURY LANE 1969 10

1 Jack Henry Moore as the pedarest

2 Sid Rawle as "the digger"

3 Jack Straw as "the socialist politician"

4 Mick Farren as "Jim Morrison"

5 Penny Reel as "the Observer"

6 Peter Welsh as "Buttons"

7 Jim Haynes as "the predatory male"

8 Nick Kimberley

9 Una Stubbs as "the actress"

10 Allen Ginsberg as "the naked beat poet"

Compiled by OBSERVER STATION

Mick Farren as "Jim Morrison"

Which part de muffin man deh?

The muffin man was long gone by the late 1960s, Stam. So were all the mods, who had been checking Anello & Davide's custom made Chelsea Boots circa 1963.

By 1969, Drury Lane was home to the London counter culture centred on the Arts Lab. Jim Haynes ran the place and was an American expatriate who had brought the Jeanette Cochran Theatre to fruition. He was also the most lecherous man I've ever met and in 1969 he was in his early 30, quite handsome and sporting an Afghan coat, Morroccan shoulder bag and winning ways with all the nubile females who passed through the Lab. His conquests were many, though I've since learnt that many of the virgins he seduced now regret the experience. Jack Henry Moore, his assistant, was gay and similarly lecherous. He ran the "underground" film, show in the basement and was always propositioning young men, though with much less success than Haynes. Sid Rawle was the "leader" of the Hyde Park diggers and was given an island by John Lennon. Peter Welsh was a rocker from Bow and the first Briton to be decorated a Hells Angel by Sonny Barger. Nick Kimberley was the assistant in Indica bookshop and later ran the poetry section of Compendium Books, Farren wore leather trousers, formed the UK White Panthers and saw himself as the baron of the London underground, Jack Straw was a student at LSE and is now a prominent Labour politician, Una Stubbs played the part of Rita Garnett in Till Death Do Us Part on British TV and would regularly drink at the White Hart pub on the corner of Drury Lane and High Holborn, an establishment that was apparently first licensed in the 13th century.

Reel

Thanks. Growing up in the SF bay area, I was a big Ginsberg fan. Ignore my latest post, ok?

Love the writings Mr. Reel. While I am ever wondering what it all might mean I always enjoy the writing style and vocabulary that you exhibit. Being of Albanian decent on my mothers side I find your writings of all things Balkan most interesting and informative.