Jim Haynes

James Almand Haynes (10 November 1933 – 6 January 2021) was an American-born figure in the British 1950s-60s counterculture, beginning in Edinburgh, Scotland with the opening of The Paperback bookshop in 1959.

In 1956, Haynes served in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Kirknewton, West Lothian, Scotland, and decided to stay after his service ended.

He attended some classes at the University of Edinburgh and, among other writing and musical activities, helped to found the Traverse Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe via his bookshop 'The Paperbacl'.

He opened the Paperback Bookshop in George Square in 1959, which is documented as "Britain’s first paperback-only bookshop".

The bookshop was one of the first in the UK to stock Lady Chatterley's Lover.

He was also a co-founder of Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, The Howff, and a co-producer of the 1962 Edinburgh Writers and 1964 Drama conferences.

In London, he co-founded the underground newspaper International Times and the London Drury Lane Arts Lab.

In 1962, Haynes co-produced 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.

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.

In 1969 he relocated to Paris and taught at the University of Paris, and for over 30 years hosted his open door Sunday Dinners, to international gatherings.

Haynes was born in the United States in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, in far northern Louisiana.

Later, he spent his middle-school years in Venezuela when his father took a job there with Shell Oil.

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 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.

In 1988 he made an extended appearance on the British TV discussion programme After Dark alongside Andrea Dworkin, Anthony Burgess and others.

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."

Haynes had a heart attack in August 2011 on his way from Paris to the Edinburgh Festival, but he recovered.

In 2018 Haynes was awarded an honorary PhD from Edinburgh Napier University.

Haynes died in his sleep in Paris on 6 January 2021.

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.