Jim Haynes
James Almand Haynes (10 November 1933 – 6 January 2021) was an American-born figure in the British "underground" and alternative/counter-culture scene of the 1960s. He was involved with the founding of Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, the paper "International Times" and the London Arts Lab in Drury Lane for experimental and mixed media work. Early life. Haynes was born in the United States in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, in far northern Louisiana. He spent several years in Venezuela when his father took a job there. In 1956, Haynes was serving in the United States military and stationed with  a unit in Kirknewton, West Lothian, Scotland; he decided to stay after his service ended. Career. Edinburgh. He attended Edinburgh University and, among other writing and musical activities, helped to found the Traverse Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He opened the Paperback Bookshop in George Square in 1959, calling it "Britain’s first paperback-only bookshop". The bookshop was one of the first in the UK to stock "Lady Chatterley's Lover". In 1962, Haynes co-founded the Edinburgh Writer's Conference with John Calder and Sonia Orwell. In 1963 Haynes and Calder and Kenneth Tynan created an International  Drama Conference which ended in a scandal, a nude young woman being involved in a happening. London. In 1966 Haynes relocated to London, in the middle of the "Swinging Sixties". He became deeply involved in the underground cultural scene, co-founding the alternative paper "International Times", known as "I.T.", together with Barry Miles, John Hopkins, and others. In September 1967 Haynes co-founded the Drury Lane Arts Lab space for mixed-media, which closed in late 1969. That year he co-launched with William Levy, Germaine Greer and Heathcote Williams "Suck" newspaper in Amsterdam to promote sexual freedom; it was  also distributed in the United Kingdom. The first issue contained a long and unrestrainedly descriptive erotic poem attributed to W. H. Auden and an explicit photo of Germaine Greer. In 1968 he co-founded Videoheads with Jack Henry Moore in London. Paris. In 1969 Haynes moved to Paris, where he taught Media Studies and Sexual Politics for 30 years at the University of Paris. He published an irregular newsletter about his life and times. In addition, he wrote an autobiographical memoir, titled "Thanks for Coming". In 1970, he created and directed the Wet Dream Festival in Amsterdam. In 1988 he  made an extended appearance on the British TV discussion programme "After Dark" alongside Andrea Dworkin, Anthony Burgess and others. In Paris, Haynes held a weekly open house dinner party beginning in 1978; at the time of his death he was estimated to have hosted over 130,000 to 150,000 people for the Sunday dinners. At Christmas 2009, Haynes and his open house parties were featured in British television advertisements for multinational foods company Nestlé: "When the coffee and 'After Eight' mints come out, Jim's always got a story to tell." Later life. Haynes had a heart attack in August 2011  on his way from Paris to the Edinburgh Festival, but he recovered. In 2017 Haynes was awarded an honorary PhD from Edinburgh Napier University. Haynes died in his sleep in Paris on 6 January 2021. In popular culture. The documentary "Echoes of the Underground" includes footage of him and featured Lee Harris, Brian Barritt, Henk Targowski, and Youth. The score for the film was written and performed by The Moonlight Convention. It is drawn from his book by the same name.