“He was one of the most crucial figures of the ’60s. Much of the underground was his invention”: the forgotten story of John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins, the man who invented psychedelic London

Pink Floyd shot with pyschedelic lighting in 1967.

Joe Boyd, Pink Floyd’s first producer, said that Britain’s 1967 ‘Summer of Love’ would never have happened without two people: Syd Barrett and John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins.

Hopkins, who died in 2015, was nicknamed the ‘King Of The Underground’ but never became a household name like Barrett or Pink Floyd. “Hoppy was one of the most crucial figures of the 60S,” explains Malcolm Boyle, one of the directors of a long-gestating documentary, Hoppy – Underground Head. “Much of underground, alternative London was his invention.”