Robert was a beat poet. Nik was a beatnik.

Robert lived in Ramsgate with his beautiful wife, Pauline, and three small, lovely, children. Nik lived with his folks in Westgate-on-Sea.

Robert used to recite poetry in local pubs and poetry societies in Thanet (Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs). Nik used to make a lot of noise on his sax. They both used to dig the music of the local bands like The East Coasters Combo, featuring Eric Greengrass (vibes), Dave Corsby (baritone sax), and the rest of the guys, playing Monk, Miles, Diz, Bird, Mingus, Trane, and loads more. Down to the local rock club, going wild to Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf. Robert tended to neglect his family, for the sake of his art, and Pauline got the short straw a lot of the time.

Robert had lived in a high-rise block on the Margate sea-front with his mother, a state registered nurse, and his father, a surveyor and a man's man, his large brother, and his deaf sister. Robert's father wanted him to be a fighter pilot, but Robert wanted to be a poet (not manly enough). His mum had a cupboard full of drugs. Robert and his brother used to take some of them and sell them to the developing mod scene. Robert's mother claimed that Robert had a nervous breakdown every eighteen months. He did too. Probably nothing to do with the drugs he took from the cupboard. Erm! He would get really manic over a period, reach a peak at breakdown point, and usually get himself into mental hospital to be in a safe place to rest. He would be given largactyl and end up on valium (which incidentally, according to Mike Moorcock, had a reverse effect upon his manic comedowns, making him more manic).

He went on a twenty-mile march in his full army uniform one time and then marched into hospital. In these times, he was extremely tiring to be with, as he got manic, demanding total attention, foaming at the mouth, firing ideas out at ninety to the dozen, demanding responses to everything. He could become difficult to live with.

Robert had used to sing in a band called Oliver Twist and the Lower Third (before Davie Jones aka Bowie). Nik thought that was cool. Nik had had another mate that had sung in that band before Rob too - Glyn Jones.

Nik used to spend a lot of time at Robert's place, reading a lot of Beckett, Burroughs, Trocchi, and Donleavy. Robert laughingly saw himself as the Ginger Man, and Nik as O'Keefe. Pauline didn't see the funny side of it. Robert was always writing poems, stories, songs, and listening to lots of sounds - psychedelic music, jazz, Stockhausen, Cage. At this time, Nik worked on the Margate sea-front, selling buckets, spades, kiss-me-quick hats, groovy shades, psychedelic posters, joss-sticks, and lots more, holding for the mods and guarding rockers' bikes. Nik used to pile a load of people into his VW Beetle, go to London all-nighters at the Roundhouse and others, with Robert and DikMik among them.

Then came Hawkwind.

To be continued