23rd July 1971
John Wilcock, the Englishman who could be said to have created what we now call the underground Press, has fled America. He says: "It may sound pompous but really I have done all I can there. All the things I was pushing – get out of Indo-China, legalise pot – all the important issues are nearly achieved. Anyhow, nobody can live in the cities there any more." Wilcock, 43, comes from Sheffield. He worked on the Daily Mirror before going to New York seventeen years ago. Lately he has taken to writing travel books. He and his wife Amber are now to love on permanent tour of Europe, publishing an occasional issue of his personal sheet Other Scenes whenever they can. Of the British Underground Press (Oz, Ink and such) he says: "It is marvellous. So British. However vulgar, however naughty, the papers are still British, basically nice."
PICTURED: John Wilcock and his wife Amber.
