Editing Jeff Nuttall

{{Short description|English writer (1933–2004)}}
{{about|the poet, actor, and artist|the church historian|Geoffrey Nuttall}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Jeff Nuttall
|image=Jeff Nuttall.jpg
|birth_name=Jeffrey Addison Nuttall
|birth_date={{Birth date|df=yes|1933|7|8}}
|birth_place=[[Clitheroe]], [[Lancashire]], England
|death_date={{Death date and age|df=yes|2004|1|4|1933|7|8}}
|death_place=[[Abergavenny]], [[Monmouthshire]], Wales
|occupation=Poet<br/>Publisher<br/>Actor<br/>Painter<br/>Sculptor<br/>Jazz trumpeter<br/>Anarchist sympathiser<br/>Social commentator
}}
'''Jeffrey Addison Nuttall''' (8 July 1933 – 4 January 2004<ref name="guardobit">{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Horovitz |author-link=Michael Horovitz |url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,3604,1120760,00.html |title=Jeff Nuttall – Author of 1968's Bomb Culture" (Obituary) |newspaper=The Guardian |date=12 January 2004 }}</ref>) was an English poet, performer, author, actor, teacher, painter, [[sculpture|sculptor]], [[jazz]] musician, anarchist<ref name="Gray2017">{{cite book|last=Gray|first=Maggie|title=Alan Moore, Out from the Underground: Cartooning, Performance, and Dissent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tFE8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|year=2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-66508-5|page=29}}</ref> and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s [[counter-culture]]. He was the brother of literary critic [[Anthony Nuttall|A. D. Nuttall]].

==Life and work==
Nuttall was born in [[Clitheroe]], [[Lancashire]], and grew up in [[Orcop]], a village in [[Herefordshire]]. He studied at Hereford College of Art, (1949–1951) and Bath Academy of Art, Corsham Court (1951–1953) He married Jane Louch, his former art teacher in 1954 and in the same year gained a teaching MA at The Institute of Education in London followed by [[national service]] completed in 1956. With his family he moved to London in 1959 where he worked as a secondary school teacher in Finchley.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charnley |first=James |title=Anything But Dull: The Art and Life of Jeff Nuttall |publisher=Academica Press |year=2022 |isbn=9781680536744 |location=Washington DC, London, UK |pages=51–62 |language=English}}</ref> He was active with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) until 1962, then inspired by [[Alexander Trocchi]] and [[Peter Currell Brown]], he committed to making art to change society. He made connections with other avant-garde writers and artists in Group H including [[Bob Cobbing]]<ref>{{cite news |author=Robert Sheppard |title=Obituary: Bob Cobbing &#124; Books |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/oct/07/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries |access-date=2014-07-24}}</ref> and [[John Latham (artist)|John Latham]].<ref name="guardobit"/>

In 1963 Nuttall produced the first of 17 issues of ''[[My Own Mag]]'' with contributions from [[William S. Burroughs|William Burroughs]]. ''MOM'' was one of the first underground magazines which were a defining feature of the 1960s counterculture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charnley |first=James |title=Anything But Dull: The Life and Art of Jeff Nuttall |publisher=Academica Press |year=2022 |isbn=9781680536744 |location=Washington DC, London UK |pages=88–95}}</ref>

During 1965 Nuttall staged early Happenings at Better Books in London.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keshvani |first=Rozemin |title=Better Books / Better Bookz, Art, Anarchy, Apostasy, Counter Culture and the New Avant-garde |publisher=ZKM, Koenig Books |year=2018 |isbn=978-3-96098-458-0 |location=London |pages=159–163 |language=English}}</ref>

An overload of creative work and marital difficulties caused Nuttall to retreat to the [[Abbey Arts Centre|Abbey Art Centre]] where he formed The People Show in 1966, one of the first and longest lasting Performance Art groups.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nuttall |first=Jeff |title=Performance Art: Memoirs |publisher=John Calder |year=1979 |isbn=0714537888 |location=London |pages=20–23 |language=English}}</ref> During 1967 he contributed regularly to ''[[International Times]]'', and wrote ''[[Bomb Culture]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charnley |first=James |title=Anything But Dull: The Life and Art of Jeff Nuttall |publisher=Academica Press |year=2022 |isbn=9781680536744 |location=Washing to DC, London UK |pages=125–128, 187–189 |language=English}}</ref> his personal account and critical analysis of the birth of the alternative society. The book was published in 1968 and then in 1970 as a best selling Paladin paperback. During this time Nuttall was  teaching and writing in Norwich and would move first to Bradford College of Art in 1969 and then to Leeds Polytechnic Fine Art Department where he was a senior lecturer for ten years from 1970 to 1981. Nuttall was active in Performance Art collaborating with Rose McGuire (Priscilla Beecham),<ref>{{cite web |first=Anna |last=Tomkinson |title='What a bright beam we had cast into their lives': exploring the papers of Priscilla Staples (Beecham) 1947–2018 |work=Rylands Blog |publisher=John Rylands Research Institute and Library |date=15 November 2018 |url=https://rylandscollections.com/2018/11/15/what-a-bright-beam-we-had-cast-into-their-lives-exploring-the-papers-of-priscilla-staples-beecham-1947-2018/ |access-date=27 February 2023 }}</ref> and influencing other performers and students including [[Marc Almond]].  His presence in the Fine Art department did much to define the radical creative ethos at Leeds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charnley |first=James |title=Creative License: From Leeds College of Art to Leeds Polytechnic 1963–1973 |publisher=Lutterworth |year=2015 |isbn=9780718893477 |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=146–150 |language=English}}</ref> 

He was elected Chairman of the National Society of Poetry in 1975 and with [[Eric Mottram]] tried to introduce radical modernist poetry occasioning the Poetry Wars.<ref name="barry">{{Cite book |last=Barry |first=Peter |title=Poetry Wars: British Poetry of the 1970s and the Battle of Earls Court |publisher=Salt Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=9781844712472 |location=Cambridge |pages=144–172 |language=English}}</ref> From 1979 to 1981 Nuttall was poetry critic for ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref name="guardobit"/>

Appointed Head of Fine Art at [[Liverpool Polytechnic]] in 1981, his tenure was marked by controversial teaching initiatives, residencies at [[Deakin University]], Australia, and increasing alcoholic consumption, all of which contributed to his early departure in 1984.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charnley |first=James |title=Anything But Dull: The Life and Art of Jeff Nuttall |publisher=Academica Press |year=2022 |isbn=9781680536744 |location=Washington DC, London |pages=341–360 |language=English}}</ref>

With his last partner, Jill Richards, he moved to [[Abergavenny]], Wales, in 1991, and later to [[Crickhowell]]. His creative output continued with soft sculptures, landscape paintings, poetry, and writing. His last two books were ''Art and the Degradation of Awareness'' (1999) and ''Selected Poems'' (2003).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saltpublishing.com/ |title=Salt – Publishers of Lesley Glaister, Alison Moore, Alice Thompson, the Best British anthologies and Modern Dreams |publisher=Salt Publishing |access-date=2014-07-24}}</ref> He died aged 70 on 4 January 2004 at the Hen and Chickens pub (known as the Hen and Chicks) in Abergavenny, where his jazz band had performed regularly for ten years.<ref name="guardobit"/>

==Literary works==

Nuttall was the author of over 40 books. These included novels (''Snipe's Spinster'' (1975)); poetry (''Objects'' (1976)); cultural commentary (''Common Factors/Vulgar Factions'', with Rodick Carmichael (1977)); and biography (''King Twist: A Portrait of Frank Randle'' (1978)).<ref name="barry"/>

{{div col}}
* ''Poems'' (1963), with Keith Musgrove
* ''The Limbless Virtuoso'' (1963), with Keith Musgrove
* ''The Change'' (1963), [[Allen Ginsberg]] (cover design)
* ''[[My Own Mag]]'' (1963–66)
* ''Poems I Want to Forget'' (1965)
* ''Come Back Sweet Prince: A Novelette'' (1966)
* ''Pieces of Poetry'' (1966)
* ''The Case of Isabel and the Bleeding Foetus'' (1967)
* ''Songs Sacred and Secular'' (1967)
* ''[[Bomb Culture]]'' (1968), Cultural criticism and memoir.
* ''[[Penguin Modern Poets]] 12'' (1968), with [[Alan Jackson (poet)|Alan Jackson]] and [[William Wantling]]
* ''Journals'' (1968)
* ''Love Poems'' (1969)
* ''Mr. Watkins Got Drunk and Had to Be Carried Home: A Cut-up Piece'' (1969)
* ''Pig'' (1969)
* ''Jeff Nuttall: Poems 1962–1969'' (1970)
* ''Oscar Christ and the Immaculate Conception'' (1970)
* ''George, Son of My Own Mag'' (1971)
* ''The Foxes' Lair'' (1972)
* ''Fatty Feedemall's Secret Self: A Dream'' (1975)
* ''The Anatomy of My Father's Corpse'' (1975)
* ''Man Not Man'' (1975)
* ''The House Party'' (1975)
* ''Snipe's Spinster'' (novel, 1975)
* ''Objects'' (1976)
* ''Common Factors, Vulgar Factions'' (1977), with Rodick Carmichael
* ''King Twist: a Portrait of Frank Randle'' (1978), biography of music hall comedian
* ''The Gold Hole'' (1978)
* ''What Happened to Jackson'' (1978)
* ''Grape Notes, Apple Music'' (1979)
* ''Performance Art'' (1979/80), memoirs and scripts, two volumes
* ''5X5'' (1981), with [[Glen Baxter (cartoonist)|Glen Baxter]], [[Ian Breakwell]], [[Ivor Cutler]] and [[Anthony Earnshaw]] (edited by [[Asa Benveniste]])
* ''Muscle'' (1982)
* ''Visual Alchemy'' (1987), with Bohuslav Barlow
* ''The Bald Soprano. A Portrait of [[Lol Coxhill]]'' (1989)
* ''Art and the Degradation of Awareness'' (1999)
* ''Selected Poems'' (2003)
{{div col end}}

==Selected filmography==
* ''[[Scandal (1989 film)|Scandal]]'' (1989) – Percy Murray, Club Owner
* ''[[Robin Hood (1991 British film)|Robin Hood]]'' (1991) – [[Friar Tuck]]
* ''[[Just like a Woman (1992 film)|Just like a Woman]]'' (1992) – Vanessa
* ''[[Damage (1992 film)|Damage]]'' (1992) – Trevor Leigh Davies MP
* ''[[The Baby of Mâcon]]'' (1993) – The Major Domo
* ''[[The Browning Version (1994 film)|The Browning Version]]'' (1994) – Lord Baxter
* ''[[Captives]]'' (1994) – Harold
* ''Paparazzo'' (1995) – Lionel
* ''[[Beaumarchais (film)|Beaumarchais]]'' (1996) – [[Benjamin Franklin]]
* ''[[Crimetime]]'' (1996) – Doctor
* ''[[Monk Dawson]]'' (1998) – Sir Hugh Stanten
* ''[[Plunkett & Macleane]]'' (1999) – Lord Morris
* ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'' (1999) – Dr. Mikhail Arkov, a Russian nuclear physicist whom Bond goes undercover as.
* ''[[Octopus (2000 film)|Octopus]]'' (2000) – Henry Campbell
* ''[[Anazapta]]'' (2002) – Priest

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |first=James |last=Charnley |title=Anything But Dull: the life and art of Jeff Nuttall |publisher=Academica Press |location=Washington DC |year=2022 |isbn=9781680536744 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-first=Douglas |editor1-last=Field |editor2-first=Jay Jeff |editor2-last=Jones |title=An Aesthetic of Obscenity: 5 novels by Jeff Nuttall |publisher=Verbivoracious Press |year=2016 }}
* {{cite book |first=Jonathon |last=Green |title=Days in the Life: voices from the English Underground 1961–1971 |publisher=Heinemann |location=London |year=1988 |isbn=9780749390129 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Timothy Emlyn |last=Jones |title=The mammal thing: Jeff Nuttall and visceral intelligence |journal=[[Bulletin of the John Rylands Library]] |volume=98 |issue=2 |pages=149–174 |year=2022 |doi=10.7227/BJRL.98.2.7 |s2cid=255052525 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-first=Rozemin |editor1-last=Keshvani |editor2-first=Axel |editor2-last=Heil |editor3-first=Peter |editor3-last=Weibel |title=Better Books – Better Bookz: art, anarchy, apostasy, counter-culture & the new Avant-Garde |publisher=Koenig Books |location=London |year=2014 |isbn=9783960984580 }}
* {{cite book |first=Mark |last=Long |title=People Show: nobody knows but everybody remembers |publisher=People Show |location=London |year=2016 |isbn=9780956562173 }}
* {{cite book |first=Barry |last=Miles |title=London Calling: a countercultural history of London since 1945 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |year=2010 |isbn=9781848875548 }}
* {{cite book |first=James |last=Riley |title=The Bad Trip, Dark Omens: New Worlds and the End of the Sixties |publisher=Icon Books |location=London |year=2019 |isbn=9781785784538 }}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040626121831/http://www.scriveners.supanet.com/nutt.htm Biography and a poem]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040103155330/http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/1844710130.htm Selected Poems listing]
* [http://www.peopleshow.co.uk People Show]
* [http://www.jeff-nuttall.co.uk The Life and Works of Jeff Nuttall]
* [http://www.thegeneralist.co.uk/audio/Jeff.Nutall07-11-04.mp3 John May interviews Nuttall] at the [[Chelsea Arts Club]], 1985
*{{IMDb name|0638346}}
* [http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/whats-on/exhibitions/off-beat/ Off Beat: Jeff Nuttall and the International Underground]
*[https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zq9m Jeff Nuttall collection, 1962–1978]
* [https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/special-collections/a-to-z/detail/?mms_id=992983876712101631 Jeff Nuttall Papers] at the [[John Rylands Library]], Manchester.
*[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anything-But-Dull-Life-Nuttall/dp/1680536745/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3JLODBP1CSXAM&keywords=anything+but+dull+jeff+nuttall&qid=1676581017&s=digital-text&sprefix=Anything+but+dull%2Cdigital-text%2C93&sr=1-1-catcorr Anything But Dull: The Life and Art of Jeff Nuttall], Academica Press, Washington DC, London, 2003

{{UK underground}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuttall, Jeff}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of Leeds Beckett University]]
[[Category:Academics of Liverpool John Moores University]]
[[Category:Beat Generation writers]]
[[Category:British Poetry Revival]]
[[Category:British conceptual artists]]
[[Category:English anarchists]]
[[Category:People from Clitheroe]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century English poets]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English male writers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Lancashire]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Herefordshire]]
[[Category:20th-century British military personnel]]