Page 14 - John Calder News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Submitting... The Traverse, which was originally launched in a former brothel off the Royal Mile, would go on to provide the launchpad for the careers of Robbie Coltrane, Billy Connolly, John Byrne, Simon Callow, Tilda Swinton, Steven Berkoff and Bill Paterson.After relocating to London in 1966, Haynes set up his own cultural centre, Art Lab, on Drury Lane, where David Bowie, Andy Warhol, John Lennon and Yoko Ono all staged work. Born in Louisiana, Haynes first came to Edinburgh while he was was serving in the US military, stationed at Kirknewton. He attended his first festival season in 1957...

His father was a drinker – by his 40s, Jim had sworn off drugs, alcohol, tobacco and even coffee – who nonetheless taught his son a lesson that dominated Jim’s life: “When you do something nice for somebody, forget it immediately. When someone does something nice for you, never forget it.” This led to tolerance of all kinds of people – one of Haynes’s books (with Jeanne Pasle-Green) was called Hello, I Love You (1974). He claimed that his ambition was to have everyone in the world in his address book. In the mid-60s, having been forced out of the Traverse by financial difficulti...

TRIBUTES have been paid to “legendary internationalist” and “serial entrepreneur” Jim Haynes, one of the most important figures in the evolution of Edinburgh Festivals. He was the co-founder of Traverse Theatre and responsible for events in the 60s that helped shape the capital as one of the most culturally significant cities in the world. Louisiana-born Haynes arrived in Scotland in the 50s while serving in the US Air Force, opening the UK’s first Paperback Bookshop in George Square in Edinburgh in 1959, shortly after being demobbed. He helped organise the 1962 internationa...