The friends of John Michell

IMG_5521Found in a book called Michellany: a John Michell Reader (2010) a list of subscribers. John Michell, whose most famous book was The View Over Atlantis (1969) was an esotericist and a major figure in the development of the counterculture /Earth mysteries movement.
A senior figure from the Hippie era and scion of a wealthy family (Eton, Cambridge, Glastonbury) he had died in 2009 aged 76 and the book was a memorial anthology. Our copy had the small attractive bookplate, showing a bookish owl, of ‘Oz’ publisher, later media tycoon, Felix Dennis (1947 -2014) The lengthy subscriber’s list is worth recording- it brings together the great and the good of bohemian/ eccentric British, mostly upper class, society…

Ahmed Ainsworth, The Lady Ashcombe, Patti Baker, A. D. Bakewell, Michael Balfour, Richard Barnes, David Batterham, Opi Bell, Gerard Belleardt, David Benedictus, Phyllis Benjamin, Mary Berg ,Elizabeth Best, James Birch, Charlotte Black, Sir Peter Blake, Ralph Blum, Jill Bond, Laura and Harry Boothby, Joe Boyd, N. Van Den Branden, Mr and Mrs Michael Briggs, Theadora Brinkman, Paul Broadhurst, Alex Brown, Sir Anthony and Lady Shelagh Montague Brown, Peter Browne, Sally Burgess, Dr Aubrey Burl, Simon Buxton, David Cadman, Joseph Caezza,  Tarquin and Sophie Campbell, Chung Yee Chong, Mrs O.D.H. Claus, Lord and Lady Patrick Conyngham, Prof Pierre and Helene Coustillas, Keith Critchlow, Paul Cullivan, Major General and Mrs Andrew Cumming Bronwen Cunningham, Karen D’Arc, Michael R. Davies, Robert Dudley, Belinda Eade, Mrs V. A. Ehlers, Jacquetta Eliot, Prof Richard England, Ness Eyre, David Fideler,
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Bailey, Keeler, Tree & Faithfull in 1969

Found  – this 1969 press photo. The byline reads: “1/10/69 London. Christine Keeler (left), whose name figured prominently a few years back in a scandal that rocked the British  government attends a party in Chelsea 11/9 to launch a new book on the “Swingin’ Sixties”.  With her is photographer David Bailey actress Penelope Tree and singer Marianne Faithfull (right).”

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We covered this in an earlier jot with a different photo. One comment said that the super model Penelope Tree ‘owned’ the photo, but in this shot she shares the limelight with the handsome hippified Bailey. A rhyme at the time went: ‘David Bailey/ Makes love daily.’ Christine Keeler appears uncharacteristically jolly and  Marianne Faithfull was appearing at the Theatre Royal Brighton in Alice in Wonderland about this time.

The book was Goodbye Baby & Amen. A Saraband for the Sixties. The text was by Peter Evans and photos by Bailey. The sitters included Brigitte Bardot, Cecil Beaton, Marisa Berenson, Jane Birkin, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Ossie Clark, Joan Collins, Catherine Deneuve, Mia Farrow, Albert Finney, Jean-Luc Godard, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Dudley Moore, Rudolf Nureyev, Oliver Reed, Keith Richard, Peter Sellers, Jean Shrimpton, Barbra Streisand, Andy Warhol, Franco Zeffirelli. Presumably some of these illuminati were at the party..

Bailey, Keeler, Faithfull in 1969

Recently found - this 1969 press photo. The byline reads:

1/10/69 London. Christine Keeler (left), whose name figured prominently a few years back in a scandal that rocked the British  government attends a party in Chelsea 11/9 to launch a new book on the "Swingin' Sixties".  With her is photographer David Bailey actress Penelope Tree and singer Marianne Faithfull (right).

The book was Goodbye Baby & Amen. A Saraband for the Sixties. The text was by Peter Evans and photos by Bailey.

The sitters included Brigitte Bardot, Cecil Beaton, Marisa Berenson, Jane Birkin, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Ossie Clark, Joan Collins, Catherine Deneuve, Mia Farrow, Albert Finney, Jean-Luc Godard, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Dudley Moore, Rudolf Nureyev, Oliver Reed, Keith Richard, Peter Sellers, Jean Shrimpton, Barbra Streisand, Andy Warhol, Franco Zeffirelli. Presumably some of these illuminati were at the party..