~ The Cast of Characters ~

• Alan Marcuson ... "we met Ken Kesey and then he left his white Cadillac with Bobby and we were driving around in it which was quite fun. We were having a most wonderful time. I was taking a bit of LSD again and Bobby brought back some cocaine from the States. And we brought out the first edition of 'Friends' at Steinbrecher's apartment..."

• Andrew Bailey... "I used to go to 'Friends' on Portobello Road on Saturdays, it was the highlight of my week to go up there and score off Little Tony. 'Friends' was unbelievable. It was so exciting. They had these little IBM typewriters that they were actually making magazines on. People doing artwork in front of you on tables..."

• Barney Bubbles... "We knew nothing about Barney, other than that he'd been to San Francisco and worked with Stanley Mouse, who designed the posters you couldn't read for the Fillmore."

• David May..."I felt very schizophrenic about going to 'Friends'. I'd walk down Portobello and go from this very straight world up in Church Street to this complete freaks world in North Kensington. It was two distinct worlds and I'd travel between them bringing the news from one and the news from the other."

• Douglas Smith... "I had Hawkwind who I thought were wonderful... But at that time Hawkwind were still called Group X. They couldn't actually think of a name."

• Jerome Burne... "I'd been reading about this spiny anteater that was evolving at an enormous rate, developing a powerful sense of hearing: the Echidna. And we started "Frendz", with a z..."

• Jilly Marcuson..."I always felt that the revolution was coming but it hadn't quite hit Belsize Park... "

• Jonathon Green... "I did interview Wolfe at one stage. He came up to a flat I was crashing in and I was very impressed that he carried our milk up six flights of stairs..."

• Little Tony..."Now we'd call him streetwise: then he was a cheeky little bastard, but gradually we incorporated him into the paper..."

• Pearce Marchbank..."Friends was the smell of feet, the mice that used to run across my drawing board at night..."

• Rosie Boycott ... "while one could see that "Friends" wasn't having the biggest influence on the world, it was still having a small influence and there was this chance to learn a skill..."

• Sam Hutt... "I don't know how I started writing for 'Friends' as 'B.S. Shoes'. It was very early, in the second issue. I still felt very naive among all these people who seemed to be rushing about and being very impressive and together..."

• Stanislav Demidjuk... "I got on well with Branson and he was setting up a new magazine that was to be the backbone of Help, 'Student' magazine...."