John 'Hoppy' Hopkins

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Hoppy

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John 'Hoppy'  Hopkins passed away at the beginning of February.  Known as the ‘The King of The Underground’ in the 1960s, he gave me my very first platform for supplying macrobiotic food to the public and thereby gave me my leg up into this wonderful industry. 

I met Hoppy in 1966 at the All Saints Church Hall in Notting Hill when he organised a small event where an unknown band weirdly called The Pink Floyd played their first London gig. It was a benefit for the London Free School, which Hoppy helped run.  At firste there was plenty of room for the few dozen attendees to dance but after a few weeks the poor little church hall was bursting at the seams and people were turned away.

So Hoppy hooked up with Joe Boyd, renamed the event 'UFO' and ran a Friday night allnighter at a basement club on Tottenham Court Road.  It opened in early December 1966. I was already importing and selling books about macrobiotics and Hoppy asked me if I could cater.  We laid on simple finger food, with thanks to my Mum Margaret who stuffed vine leaves with brown rice, fried up felafel and made brown rice rissoles.  During the breaks in the music (Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Crazy World of Arthur Brown) me and my small band of macrobiotic missionaries would sidle up to people and explain to them what this strange food was that they were eating, why sugar was bad and brown rice was good.  We were building the customer base of a little restaurant-cum-macrobiotic study centre that I was planning to open in Notting Hill in February 1967.  You couldn’t ask for a more positive association in people’s minds than the Pink Floyd and macrobiotic food.

In January 1967 Hoppy organised a 'happening' in Piccadilly Circus.  It was lovely.  The police stood by smiling indulgently and the press coverage was kind.  Nobody had learned to hate hippies  yet.  Hoppy tootled on a little flute while the Dutch artist couple Simon and Marijke beat tambourines.  It was the 'coming out' party of the 'underground' scene in London.  

Hoppy went on to found International Times (IT), the newspaper of this emerging community.  It wasn't long before it got busted, for publishing small ads that enabled gays to meet each other, at a time when being gay was imprisonable.   International Times was taken off sale at newsagents and the only place you could get a copy was in our restaurant - we gave away bundles and people went off and circulated it to their friends, so it still managed to reach its readership.  On a Saturday morning Hoppy got into a coffin symbolic of the death of IT and traveled on the Circle Line, emerging at Notting Hill.  A procession of IT supporters danced, played flutes and whistles and got to the spot on the Portobello Road where, 4 years later, we would open Ceres Grain Shop. Then unsmiling police moved in in force and scattered everyone in all directions.  No more indulgent good natured bobbies, the honeymoon was over.   

To raise the money for IT's legal costs Hoppy and music producer Dave Howson decided to put on a mega-event at Alexandra Palace - called The 14-Hour Technicolor Dream. They went to the music companies who by then had bands like the Pink Floyd under contract and they were all keen to showcase their groups on the bill.  One little hitch - Hoppy hadn't actually booked Alexandra Palace as there was a £400 booking fee.   He and Dave persuaded me to lend the money.   Once Alexandra Palace was booked the record company money flowed and I got my loan back two weeks later.  The event was legendary.  I served a macrobiotic breakfast in the morning sunshine before the revelers went home.               

This kind of troublemaking alarmed the authorities.  Hoppy was targeted and busted for a small amount of dope, branded ‘a menace to society’ by the magistrate and sentenced to nine months imprisonment.  When Mick Jagger was arrested that year, after a set up by the News of The World, William Rees-Mogg wrote in The Times; "Who would break a butterfly on a wheel?"   The answer was any government, Tory or Labour that felt threatened by a bunch of young people wearing colourful clothes and enjoying being alive, eating healthy food, caring about the environment and loving one another too freely.

Recent evidence reveals that while the authorities were fretting over healthy eating, sexual liberation and environmental activism they were allegedly also busy procuring young boys from orphanages for sadistic purposes.  For Hoppy being in jail changed his life.  He'd learned his lesson and after coming out of jail spent his time in quasi-academic pursuits and pioneered the exploration of a novel new technology: video.  He lived long enough to see YouTube empowering ordinary people with video capabilities and the widespread adoption of a healthier way of eating.  A bright spark that fired up the alternative society has gone out.

 

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Today’s Observer - granddaughter Saba’s writing described as “sensual, witty, audacious, belligerent dangerous brilliance.”
Today’s Observer - granddaughter Saba’s writing described as “sensual, witty, audacious, belligerent dangerous brilliance.”
We’re going in - please support! Link in bio to donate to the tireless work of @hastingsrnli
We’re going in - please support! Link in bio to donate to the tireless work of @hastingsrnli
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The ‘doctrine of signatures’ states that you can tell the benefit of something from its appearance. This Jerusalem artichoke looks like food for strength
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Zion, Illinois 1915. A mere 100 years later and we no long inhale secondhand smoke from the few remaining smokers
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In 1967 I drove an Austin 12, modified with gold paint on the chrome and white fenders
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Executing a commission to cut and prep some parsley, I was struck by its colour and form. #ilovethegulfstream
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At the Carbon Gold Christmas lunch the crackers contained pink eyebrow combs. Well, what would any sensible person do in the circumstances?
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Before the assembled ‘chocoloscenti’ from around the world Jo and I were inducted into the Chocolate Legends Hall of Fame last night in NY. “Without these two, none of us would be here tonight” said Alexandra Leaf, announcing the award. Sniff, sniff.
Today’s Observer - granddaughter Saba’s writing described as “sensual, witty, audacious, belligerent dangerous brilliance.” We’re going in - please support! Link in bio to donate to the tireless work of @hastingsrnli The ‘doctrine of signatures’ states that you can tell the benefit of something from its appearance. This Jerusalem artichoke looks like food for strength Zion, Illinois 1915. A mere 100 years later and we no long inhale secondhand smoke from the few remaining smokers Walk in the woods- nice timber oak standing in a sea of wood anemones Before the omelette au fines herbes featuring thyme, sage, parsley, rosemary, chives, marigold leaf and blossom. Plus a big endive. All fresh picked, ultra hyper local In 1967 I drove an Austin 12, modified with gold paint on the chrome and white fenders Executing a commission to cut and prep some parsley, I was struck by its colour and form. #ilovethegulfstream At the Carbon Gold Christmas lunch the crackers contained pink eyebrow combs. Well, what would any sensible person do in the circumstances? Before the assembled ‘chocoloscenti’ from around the world Jo and I were inducted into the Chocolate Legends Hall of Fame last night in NY. “Without these two, none of us would be here tonight” said Alexandra Leaf, announcing