name: Richard Neville
birth_date: 1941-12-15 00:00:00
death_date: 2016-09-04 00:00:00
genres: Nonfiction
avg_rating: 4.14
ratings_count: 1597
about: In early 1967, Neville founded the London Oz with the brilliant artist Martin Sharp as graphic designer. Many soon to be significant writers including Robert Hughes, Clive James, Germaine Greer, David Widgery, Alexander Cockburn and Lillian Roxon, amongst others, contributed. Felix Dennis (later to become one of Britain's wealthiest publishers with Dennis Publishing) came on board as advertising manager.London Oz became increasingly influenced by hippie culture, and oscillated wildly between psychedelia, revolutionary political theory, idealistic dreams of a counter-culture, with much discussion of drug-taking thrown in. Oz campaigned to legalise marijuana through various events such as the Legalise Pot Rally in Hyde Park, London, in 1968. In early 1967, Neville founded the London Oz with the brilliant artist Martin Sharp as graphic designer. Many soon to be significant writers including Robert Hughes, Clive James, Germaine Greer, David Widgery, Alexander Cockburn and Lillian Roxon, amongst others, contributed. Felix Dennis (later to become one of Britain's wealthiest publishers with Dennis Publishing) came on board as advertising manager.London Oz became increasingly influenced by hippie culture, and oscillated wildly between psychedelia, revolutionary political theory, idealistic dreams of a counter-culture, with much discussion of drug-taking thrown in. Oz campaigned to legalise marijuana through various events such as the Legalise Pot Rally in Hyde Park, London, in 1968. Oz, however, was clearly against hard drugs. There was also much discussion and theoretical rumination regarding feminism and the "sexual revolution" and by contemporary standards it often seems glaringly sexist.While Neville had a reputation for being wild and stoned, he revealed in his autobiography Hippie Hippie Shake that he was more of a workaholic, obsessed with the magazine deadlines and his editorials, which often tried to make sense of all the competing philosophies that were exploding from the "youthquake". Neville was known as a charismatic and charming figure who had a wide circle of friends among London's intellectual and publishing elite, rock stars, socialist revolutionaries and criminals. While Neville was holidaying on Ibiza, an edition of the magazine entirely produced by high school students—Schoolkids Oz (May 1970)—was published, edited by Jim Anderson and Felix Dennis. The issue depicted Rupert Bear sporting a penis (1971) and lead to the conviction of Neville, Jim Anderson and Felix Dennis. The then-longest obscenity trial in British history then ensued.The Oz defendants had the brilliant and eccentric barrister, author and creator of Rumpole of the Bailey, John Mortimer on their team, and Geoffrey Robertson, the now internationally renowned human rights lawyer made his debut in the trial. The trial turned the Old Bailey into a circus, with a bizarre array of celebrities called on to give evidence in its favour. John Lennon wrote and recorded "God Save Oz" and he and Yoko Ono marched the streets surrounding the Old Bailey in support of the magazine and freedom of speech. London Oz ended in November 1973.In the 1990s, across a variety of media, Richard explored social responsibility for businesses in the 21st Century. This led to keynote addresses at national conferences, and the essay collection Out of My Mind (Penguin). He also published his memoir Hippie Hippie Shake, which has been adapted as a film by Working Title. The film was not released for unknown reasons. Neville was also the co-founder of the Australian Futures Foundation.Neville was diagnosed with early-onset dementia in his mid sixties. The Australian Oz magazine has been digitised by the University of Wollongong. He died on 4 September 2016, at the age of 74.Yale University has acquired Neville's archive, which is now located in Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. - wickipedia ...more