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Unknown Band play Windsor Free festival Monday 26th August 1973 © Vin Miles


 The second Windsor festival was just a little larger than 1972, (about 1500 or so I'd say). People spilled out from the woods and were camping in the fields on either side. Hawkwind were playing. The sun shone. " Jane

   The festival had its fair share of busts and hassles, but it was not broken up by the police and despite the relatively small numbers , it gave those who attended some valuable experience in howto outsmart the police .This would of course have rankled and probably helped sow the seeds for the nasty confrontations that took place in 1974...........

Recordings during Windsor 73 ...recorded by Ralph Stephenson & Bill Dwyer, edited and preserved by John 'Hoppy' Hopkins

  • Recording One:
  • 00: After two people were busted, others chased after the Police van.
    Someone laid down in front of the van but the Police drive on, injuring him.
    A crowd rocked the van and the Police got out. Ubi Dwyer calls for peace and calm.
  • 2m: Recording of two songs at end of bands set. The first is 12 bar blues.
  • 7m25: last track is 'Doctor Doctor' (not the song of the same name by UFO). Who is the band?
  • 13m40: Irish music 2 violins
  • 14m20: space rock track - bass drums, organ, sax, overhead helicopter. Who? Maybe 'Ace'.
  • 22m: Sid Rawles calls for a people's parliament
  • 23m: flute, bass, accoustic guitar, spanish guitar.
  • 27m 'A little planet on the outskirts of the sun'
  • Recording Two:
  • 00: Sid Rawles, Ubi Dwyer
  • 1m: Unknown Band with riffing sax
  • 5m: 'Let your love be stronger'
  • 8m20: Andy Dunkley Stage annoncement 'Park Commission provide bags for rubbish'
  • 9m: Laid back blues track 'Heard about the people sitting in a park' melds with 'highlife' near end
  • (11m: Low flying military jet passes, RAF saying fek you lot.)
  • 17m30: 'We're all gonna start a revolution'
  • 25m30: Very brief - one question interview with Ubi Dwyer

   John "Hoppy" Hopkins was the co-founder of at least three underground projects: International Times magazine; a fabled but short-lived music venue called the UFO Club, where Pink Floyd rehearsed and played; and the London Free School, a community-based adult education initiative. During the couple of years up to June 1967, Britain's fertile and diverse counterculture took much of its inspiration from him, while others knew him for his photography.

   The "Free Hoppy" Landmark Case. In June 1967, the police raided Hopkins' flat, and he was sentenced to nine months in prison for possession of a small amount of cannabis. A massive "Free Hoppy" legal-reform movement erupted. Paul McCartney clandestinely funded a famous full-page advertisement in The Times denouncing cannabis laws as a direct tribute to Hopkins. Once released, Hoppy formed BIT - an information exchange for Underground concerns: legal representation, squatting, drug problems etc. In 1969, Hoppy was given a video camera by John Lennon, he then pursued video as an art form and educational tool.
Hoppy's legacy lives on. Visit hoppyx.com which has an archive of his work.

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