Counter-Cultural Lifestyles in Regional England, 1965-1975

This book breaks new ground by exploring regional scenes beyond London during the years 1965 to 1975.  Whilst many accounts of this era have tended to focus on the Capital, John Griffiths journeys beyond its boundaries to assess how far the cultures usually implied to be exclusive to the metropolis in fact diffused into the English counties. The book examines both the ‘swinging period’ of post-1945 history (c. 1965-1967) and the years of the counter-culture c. 1968-1975,  examining topics such as the rise of the boutique, alternative cinema, art festivals and art labs, and regional funding for the experimental, before moving on to consider the attitudes of regional newspapers to changes in society. In its latter sections the legacy of 1968 is considered, with specific focus on the rise of Women’s Liberation and Gay Liberation movements. It concludes with an examination of student life on the regional campus.  This book argues that, contrary to many accounts that brandedthem as cultural deserts, the 1960s saw the ‘provinces’ rebranded as ‘regions’ and were increasingly up to speed with London culture.

John Griffiths is Senior Lecturer on the History Programme at Massey University, New Zealand. He is the author of several articles that have appeared in internationally recognised journals such as Social History, Journal of Social History, Urban History and Contemporary British History. He is the author of Imperial Culture in Antipodean Cities (Palgrave, 2014) and the four-volume Empire and Popular Culture (2021-2022). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.