Talking with the Hippies

In this episode I am talking with Rob Taylor. Rob got in touch with me in connection with research for his PhD project at Oxford University.

Normally I get to ask the questions, but in this episode my guest was the host and I got to relax and come up with the answers.

This is a two part podcast episode. Subjects include, Hippy Politics, Psychedelics, The Hippie Trail, India, Books on the scene, Hippy slang, The origins of the Hippies, Where are they all now, and more.

I really enjoyed every minute of making this episode - so many good questions - truth be told, we could have kept talking, and who knows, maybe we will.

Remember, if you enjoy my podcasts, please like, review, comment, and/or share with anyone else who you think may also enjoy listening to them.

In this episode I chat with Sam Dodson. Sam is an artist - check out the episode art, and was once a musician in a band - check out the music - Loop Guru 1996.

I would say, definitely more than me, Sam has stuck to his creative principles. I'm paraphrasing here but it roughly goes along the lines of 'Don't follow the money, and if you need to eat.... well, something usually turns up'.

We chat about art, music, life, creative writing courses, and much much more. It's been the most enjoyable time recording and putting this episode together - I hope that you enjoy listening to it too.

If you like this podcast, please remember to do all the stuff you are supposed to do including, liking it, reviewing it, subscribing to it, and sharing it.

Thank you all for listening.

Love and Peace

Tom

Talking with the Hippies went live for this one, and what a great night it was. Beautiful music, Beautiful audience, and my son Josh as a guest.

We talk about what it was like to grow up on Dartmoor with two hippies for parents. We also talk about Josh's career as a comedian, and we also work in a few bits and pieces about life in general.

My thanks to Rose Ellis for helping to put this show together, and for performing at the gig, along with Simeon and Kuki, Chris and Sheila, and Fred and Marlowe.

Rose also wrote and performed the music used on this podcast episode.

My thanks to Andy at Ashburton Arts Centre for hosting the evening. Talking with the Hippies Live will be back in town on January 13th 2025. Make a note of that date, or book your ticket or whatever, and if you enjoy listening to TWTH, if you subscribe you should hopefully receive a notification of every new episode.

In this episode I'm back talking to my friend Alan Clayson about growing up in the Sixties, with the Beatles - obviously not with the actual Beatles, but surrounded by the culture that they were a huge part of.

This is by no means a comprehensive account of those days, but hopefully it might give you a flavout of those halcyon days.

In this episode I talk to Georgina Grant, who grew up as a mixed-race child in the 1960s.

Since I was very young I've always felt very sensitive about race issues. Unbelievably, this is the first time I've ever actually sat down with someone of a so-called different race and talked about it. I'm really grateful to Georgi for agreeing to do this recording with me - it means a lot.

How is racism even a thing - it just sickens me!

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies I chat with Oliver Bosence. Olly's father was a teacher at Dartington Hall School in the 1960s, and Olly was a student there at the same time.

I was very keen to find out how he feels now about the progressive education that he received there.

We cover a lot of interesting stuff, including many of Olly's memories of what life on the estate was like at that time.

I hope that you enjoy listening to the podcast - please do share the link with anyone else that you think might also enjoy it.

In this episode I talk to my old friend Mark Rashid.

Mark has many strings to his bow. He is an author, a luthier, a horse trainer, a philosopher, and most important of all, a nice bloke.

We do start off chatting a little bit about horses, but hang in there - it's all very relevant to what comes next.

I hope that you enjoy the listen - I certainly enjoyed putting it together.

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies I chat to Alan Clayson, about his new book, Get Yer 'Air Cut.

I always enjoy making my podcasts, but for me, talking with Alan felt like visiting old times. Let's just say I'm pretty sure we would have been good mates had we met up in the 60s,

Give it a listen - it might just be a classic episode!

By the way, the music is courtesy of Alan's band, Clayson and the Argonauts. I had to pay 79p for it, so I hope you enjoy it.

In this episode I get to talk with smallholder and back to the land campaigner, Chris Smage.

Chris has written a couple of excellent books, A Small Farm Future, and, Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future. The titles say it all really.

I enjoyed talking with Chris. I agreed with almost everything he said - sorting out our food production and looking after the land absolutely has to be central to our well-being as a species.

Sometimes I think 90% of what we do is just a bit daft really. What have we gained from all the so called progress that we have made. But then again, without some of that progress this podcast wouldn't be happening now. I guess some of you might be thinking that would be a good thing too.

May love and peace prevail.

Best Wishes

Tom

In this episode I chat with Robert Norris, an old hippy from California.

In the 60s we grew up in the shadow of the Viet Nam war. Thankfully, Harold Wilson, the UK Prime Minister at the time, refused to get involved, so in the UK we were spared the draft. But for American kids it was serious life and death stuff. 58,220 Americans lost their lives in a war which history tells us was fought largely for the benefit of the arms industry.

This is the story of one American growing up in that shadow.