International Times 45 May '68 Lennon Ono Soft Machine

Information courtesy the International Times Archive at: www.international-times.org.uk

Condition - pretty good for age, per photo 

The International Times (it or IT) was an underground paper started in 1966 in the UK, based in central London. Editors and writers included founders John Hopkins (Hoppy), Barry Miles and Jim Haynes. ITs first editor was the acclaimed playwright Tom McGrath. Singer of the The Deviants Mick Farren, Jack Moore and avant-garde writer Bill Levy were closely involved. The name International Times was changed to just "it" for a time after objections from The Times newspaper. However, it was anyway generally referred to by the letters "I-T". Paul McCartney helped found the paper.

The iconic logo for IT was a black and white photo of Theda Bara, vampish star of silent films. The original idea had been to use an image of actress Clara Bow because she was iconically known as The IT girl - but an image of Theda Bara was used accidentally and once deployed, it was never changed.

International Times was launched on 14 October, 1966 at The Roundhouse by a gig featuring Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd. The event promised a 'Pop/Op/Costume/Masque/Fantasy-Loon/Blowout/Drag Ball and featured Soft Machine, steel bands, strips, trips, happenings, movies. The launch was described as "one of the two most revolutionary events in the history of English alternative music and thinking. The IT event was important because it marked the first recognition of a rapidly spreading socio-cultural revolution that had its parallel in the States" by Daevid Allen of Soft Machine.

Many people who are now prominent UK figures wrote for IT, including feminist critic Germaine Greer, poet and social commentator Jeff Nuttall, and DJ John Peel. There were many original contributions from underground writers such as Alexander Trocchi; William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Leading editorial contributors to the late 1970s IT were Heathcote Williams, Max Handley, Mike Lesser, Eddie Woods (Amsterdam editor), and Chris Sanders.  In 1986 IT was passed on to performer Tony Allen and writer Chris Brook.

From those first issues published in the 1960s it was printed throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. It was relaunched in 1986. There have been a total of 205 issues. It was contemporary to the other radical underground London magazine, Oz, and later Friends (renamed "Frendz") and Ink; many people who wrote for one also wrote for the others.

International Times. (2008, July 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:24, July 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Times&oldid=225781631