International Times: highlights from the early years

As an archive of the counter-culture newspaper launches, we look back at covers from 1966 to 1968
  
  


International Times
14-27 October 1966: Founded by John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes, playwright Tom McGrath and others, International Times soon became the voice of the 1960s and early 1970s underground. It was was launched at London's Roundhouse on 14 October 1966 with a gig headlined by Pink Floyd Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
16-29 January 1967: The paper's logo was a black-and-white image of silent movie star Theda Bara. The founders' original intention was to use an image of the actress Clara Bow because she had been known as 'the IT girl', but an image of Bara was used by accident and was never changed. The paper was forced to officially change its name to IT after legal threats from the Times newspaper. This issue's cover features Paul McCartney, who is interviewed inside; the Beatles star helped fund the paper. Other big-name contributors include Norman Mailer and beat writers Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
30 January-12 February 1967: The magazine was sold at gigs, raves and protests, and became a central force in social and political change. The 'What's Happening' listings on the back page provided a noticeboard for the London counter-culture; it was a forerunner of Time Out, which launched the following year. Events advertised in this issue include the UFO club in Tottenham Court Road, plays, films, lectures and a multimedia 'rave' by Paul McCartney and the Delta Plus, Soft Machine and others Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
27 February-12 March 1967: The magazine opts for a comic strip-style cover in which Theda Bara appears as Wonder Woman (bottom right). As well as a page on French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, the issue includes a feature on the 'physiodelic backlash' Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
28 April-12 May 1967: The paper gears up for the Summer of Love with a '14-Hour Technicolour Dream' special issue. From April 1967, the police raided the paper's offices; it was claimed this was an attempt to drive it out of business. It held a fund-raising event on 29 April at London's Alexandra Palace featuring Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono, Arthur Brown, Soft Machine, Tomorrow and The Pretty Things. The concert was documented by Peter Whitehead in the film Tonite Let's All Make Love in London Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
31 August-13 September 1967: Alongside 'cut-up' fiction from William Burroughs, there is a two-page spread of lyrics from Frank Zappa's Absolutely Free album. A news story details magazine founder 'Hoppy' Hopkins's appeal against being jailed for allowing cannabis to be smoked in his Bayswater flat Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
16-29 February 1968: A Situationist-inspired cartoon strip anticipates the student unrest three months later in Paris. 'Our front page is a found object,' states the footnote. 'We found it posted to the building that houses our offices.' It adds that the printers altered a swearword in one of the speech bubbles. The issue's content includes a JG Ballard short story titled Why I Want To Fuck Ronald Reagan Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
8-21 March 1968: Mike Rudston's cover illustration picturing a stoned Mickey Mouse sets the tone for this issue, which features a column by John Peel. The DJ wrote for IT from the time his Radio London show 'The Perfumed Garden' ended in August 1966 to April 1969. Here, Peel - who had by then joined Radio 1 - offers his 'sympathies and love' to those 'humiliated' by the police during a raid on the Middle Earth club, while he also praises new albums by Leonard Cohen and the Incredible String Band. It ends with a touching tribute: 'Dandelion, Hamster - Extraordinary, died last week of some strange hamsterian disease. I shall miss her scampering and grinning. I shall miss teling you about her. With the atrocities of a war waged by madmen claiming hundreds of lives daily it may seem foolish to weep for a silent, furry animal. However, I loved Dandelion and I'm sad' Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
3-16 May 1968: Published as social and political unrest grew to its height, this issue highlights protest in Berlin, Amsterdam and the north of England. Four pages are taken up by a feature on, and map of, the 'three villages' of Notting Hill – a very different place then, with squats, head shops and 'free schools' to the fore rather than coffee chains, designer stores and upscale restaurants. By this issue, both the 'What's Happening' section and the small ads have been extended to two-page spreads – doubtless a sign of the burgeoning underground scene Photograph: International Times Archive
International Times
12-25 July 1968: The issue features coverage of the build-up to the trial of Huey Newton of the radical Black Panther Party, which faced police harassment for its political activity in Oakland, California. Another full-page piece tells readers to 'drop out' and follow a 'new common law': 'Spread the idea and drop out again and again, increasing in numbers and power until the whole debt-ridden, profit-mongering Establishment is brought to a standstill' Photograph: International Times Archive
 

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