Glastonbury Festival Archive: Crispin Aubrey Collection

The collection contains correspondence, press cuttings, press releases, programmes, posters and other documents regarding the organising, publicising, running and recording of Glastonbury Festival. It also includes material relating to the writing and publication of Crispin Aubrey and John Shearlaw's book Glastonbury Festival Tales.

John Nicholas Crispin Aubrey (born 3 Jan 1946; died 28 Sep 2012) was a British journalist and campaigner. Having studied English literature at Oxford University, he joined Time Out magazine in 1974. It might be said that he came to national prominence when he and the freelance journalist Duncan Campbell were arrested in 1977, under the Official Secrets Act. The ABC trial, in which he was a defendant, led to amendments to the United Kingdom's secrecy legislation.

Crispin Aubrey was involved with Glastonbury Festival from the 1990s as a press officer. He and his colleague, John Shearlaw, edited a book named Glastonbury Festival Tales in 2004. Aubrey also wrote a number of other books about Britain's Security Service and environmental issues. Indeed, he was one of the first investigative reporters to lay emphasis on the environment and was a keen opponent of nuclear energy.

The Crispin Aubrey Collection forms part of the Glastonbury Festival archive and is arranged as follows:

• THM/399/1/1 - Material relating to the annual Organisation and running of Glastonbury Festival
• THM/399/1/2 - Material relating to Crispin Aubrey's publications and to the publishing industry

This archive collection is available for consultation in the V&A Blythe House Archive and Library Study Room by appointment only. Full details of access arrangements may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

Access to some of the material may be restricted. These are noted in the catalogue where relevant.

Sue Aubrey, Gift, 2015.

Information on copying and commercial reproduction may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

This collection was appraised in line with the collection management policy.

No further accruals are expected.

See also the core collections of the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance. Material relating to Glastonbury and the artists who performed there may be found in several collections, including the biographical, productions and company files.

Please ask for details.

Crispin Aubrey and John Shearlaw, Glastonbury Festival Tales, (London: Ebury Press, 2004).

Crispin Aubrey and John Shearlaw, Glastonbury: An Oral History of the Music, Mud and Magic, (London: Ebury Press, 2005).