Wally Hope

Wally Hope (1947 - 1975) was the name by which the Windsor Free Festival organiser, Phil Russell, was known. His friend Penny Rimbaud credits him with much of the inspiration behind Rimbaud's project, Crass. In 1974, after his arrest on charges of LSD possession, Hope spent ten weeks in a psychiatric institution. Subsequently, he died, officially by suicide, although Rimbaud believes that rather than dying by this own hand, the government, for political reasons, had him deliberately murdered. [cite book |title=The Last Of The Hippies - An Hysterical Romance |last=Rimbaud |first=Penny |authorlink=Penny Rimbaud |year=1982 |publisher=Crass |url=http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/britain/sp001297.txt| |quote=The court passed a verdict of suicide with no reference at all to the appalling treatment that had been the direct cause of it. ..... Our enquiries convinced us that what had happened was not an accident. The state had intended to destroy Wally's spirit, if not his life, because he was a threat, a fearless threat who they hoped they could destroy without much risk of embarrassment.]

ee also

*Stonehenge Free Festival
*The Wallys

External links

* [http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/britain/sp001297.txt A personal account of Wally Hope's life and death by Rimbaud]
* [http://business.virgin.net/nigel.ayers/wally.html Nigel Ayers: Where's Wally]

References