Jeff Nuttall

Jeffrey Addison Nuttall (8 July 1933 – 4 January 2004) was an English poet, performer, author, actor, teacher, painter, sculptor, jazz musician, anarchist and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of literary critic A. D. Nuttall. Life and work Nuttall was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and grew up in Orcop, a village in Herefordshire. He studied at Hereford College of Art, (1949–1951) and Bath Academy of Art, Corsham Court (1951–1953) He married Jane Louch, his former art teacher in 1954 and in the same year gained a teaching MA at The Institute of Education in London followed by National Service completed in 1956. With is family he moved to London in 1959 where he worked as a secondary school teacher in Finchley. He was active with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) until 1962, then inspired by Alexander Trocchi and Peter Currell Brown, he committed to making art to change society. Connecting with other avant-garde writers and artists in Group H including Bob Cobbing, John Latham, and Bruce Lacey, his modernist/anarchist persuasions found expression in painting, writing and poetry. In 1963 Nuttall produced the first of 17 issues of My Own Mag with contributions from William Burroughs. MOM was one of the first underground magazines which were a defining feature of the 1960s counterculture. During 1965 Nuttall staged early Happenings at Better Books in London These included the sTigma environment with John Latham, Bruce Lacey, Islwyn Watkins and Criton Tomazos. Later in the same year he participated with Latham in the International Poetry Incarnation at the Albert Hall instigated by Allen Ginsberg.