Lisa Lovebucket says..“ Hey all, I spoke to Daisy last night. She is mostly keeping her chin up and certainly keeping busy with all the necessary arrangements for a farewell which will take place in Epping Forest. As a small contribution to the proceedings, Daisy has asked us to provide a show-reel of photos of Ken and a montage of audio clips. We have some material already but could do with a lot more preferably spanning Ken’s whole career. If anyone has any photos of Ken can you please email them to me at montage@whollychao.com preferably as a JPEG but any picture format will do. If you haven’t got access to a scanner let me know. If anyone has any digital audio can you please send it to the same address. MP3s would be best but we can work with WAVs or whatever digital format you have. Short, appropriate extracts would be preferable to entire pieces but we do have editing facilities. If you have non-digital audio please let me know. We will also be printing out and displaying all the messages from this group so please keep them coming. Thanks for all you’ve said so far. There will also be a book of condolences on the day. LLB xx xxx”

Andy says..“ A true celebrity from the days when 'celebrity' meant you had to be good at something. There won't be anyone like him again.”

Chris Bernard says..“ Good article about Ken. He was an enigma, a phenomenom, horrifying to some, inspirational to others - but the experience was always an epiphany. Ken's legacy to Liverpool shouldn't be underestimated and I was glad to see Peter O'Halligans name, Peter (and Sean O'Halligan's)influence is often forgotten in the histories of the cultural scene in Liverpool. The 70s here was a time when the 'suits' didn't dictate and control 'culture and the arts' like now. Currently we rely on them and accept their leadership. But we should learn from Ken - he was an arnarchist in the most rewarding and productive way. Ode To Ken Campbell from the 'Confrontation' magazine got it right:

A mental gymnast who will blow your mind
an intellectual Houdini of a very strange kind
a freaked out guide dog for the conventional blind
Ken Campbell is the cucumber
up the world's behind!

Methinks some cucumber therapy is exactly what our cultural overlords need. I'm with Angie "I prefer to think that he is in one of his parallel universes." Yes Ken Campbell truly did change my life. ”

Joe McGann says..“ I agree- Ken really kicked the theatre and Arts scene in Liverpool up the arse and away from the posturing and cliques he hated-" the clashing of cheek bones can be heard down the street" he once said. I was working for Sean and Peter, painting the outside of the building when I first met him around the time of War of the Newts. His reign at the Everyman was pivotal in bringing a sense of validity to young scousers like myself who had previously thought there was no place in Theatre for the likes of us. The Roadshow remains in my memory for its sheer inventiveness and lunacy. There are a great many people out there who owe a lot to Ken's energy and inspiration. I like to think of him wandering around on some other plane, gloriously dishevelled, bending someone's ear with the famous opening line- ''Ere, this'll interest you...." A true great.”

Anonymous says..“ A lovely piece and, judging by this account, a lovely man. It made me cry, partly for the beautiful delivery, partly for the regret that I've missed my chance to meet him. ”

leon kay says..“ I met Ken in the spring of this year in Loughton and we had a coffee together in Cafe Rouge and he related a funny story about how he came to be living in Loughton because his dog bit this woman. A very funny and long story. He was a funny man and very clever .Liverpool Confidential gave a very fitting tribute ,he will be sadly missed ..a true mad eccentric englishman .”

Siobhan says..“ I only met Ken Campbell a few times he was always very personable. I can only imagine the loss those with a personal relationship with him must be experiencing and my sympathies are with them. I was always struck that he had such a knowledge of the traditions and technique of stagecraft and performance, yet he used them to be innovative, creative and entertaining. What a loss to the profession!”

Mitch Poole says..“ What a lovely tribute to Ken who was a marvellous man. Completely larger than life and once met never forgotten. I only met him once - a very surreal day in 1979 - spent on a coach to a Beatles convention in Sheffield with Allan Williams and Bob Wooler all competing to see who could get most drunk.”

Gemma Bodinetz, Artistic Director, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse says..“ Ken Campbell passed away earlier this week, to the great shock of everyone connected to these theatres.

I have found writing a response to this tragic event very hard (as I know has Deborah Aydon) because he was so much more than simply a former artistic director of the Everyman. He was, I like to think, a friend and he was/ is certainly an inspiration.

What follows is then unusually inarticulate by my standards, grappling, as it does, with my professional desire and duty to pay homage to a great man and my own sense of how impossible it is to sum up Ken in less than 12 volumes of densely written prose. Thing is, he’d do it in one pithy phrase. There’s the difference. There’s the genius……..

It seems impossible, even three days on, that a life-force so entire, so unique, so artistically fearless could just cease. It seems to me that a world without Ken is missing an entire dimension (some would say only completely perceived by him)- but he was the door through which many hundreds of kindred souls entered a madder, braver, brighter, funnier and more complex universe.

Ken Campbell was artistic director of the Everyman for one brilliant year. With all due respect to all past, present and indeed future artistic directors of our very special theatre, I don’t think any one AD will ever make such an impact in the space of a season.

“They gave me the job because, in the board’s opinion, it was getting a bit safe. …..they were doing good plays well but the Everyman wasn’t just for doing good plays well was it?”

Who will ever forget THE WARP, The War With Newts, Hank Williams - The Show he Never Gave…? One brilliant, legendary season which people still talk about and whose genius is emblazoned on the memories of everyone who took part in or witnessed it.

Perhaps not surprising, then, that at the end of it Ken remarked: “I’m at my happiest innovating, and I don’t think I’ve got another season of it in me right now.”

And so he left his position, but his devotion and commitment to innovation stayed with him forever.

We asked Ken to come back and direct something for the Everyman’s 40th anniversary. We said he could do anything as long as it was “KEN.” Over the years his passion had focused on the art of improvised theatre of which he was a world class exponent. He gave us “Farting around in Disguises” a week of improvisation for which he held days of open auditions for the people of Merseyside- most of whom it seemed turned up.

I will never forget those auditions, as teams of people (many of them our patrons) were rolled onto the Playhouse stage and asked to evoke their creative force and let it speak through their anus! He swore at them, told them they were hopeless and ridiculed their attempts to be spontaneous (and no one complained!), but he also cheered and beamed with genuine joy beneath those iconic eyebrows when someone displayed a glimmer of thoughtless, creative courage. During the days upon days of auditions (he saw everyone!) he was honest, fed by a passion for his craft, often wickedly funny and always dazzling clever- he was Ken. And even the most humiliated patrons will treasure the insults he flung at them.

Losing Ken is like losing a portal onto a freer world. He challenged every received wisdom, every cliché of how things should be done.

But I’d never dare second guess him on anything. And I know, from the now-acutely precious time he spent staying with me and my family, that he knows however banal my words appear, they come from a profound admiration for a true genius and from a deep sense of loss.

There is no one like him.

There never will be.

Our thoughts are with his daughter, Daisy, grand-children Dixie and Django and all those many, many people who can’t believe he’s gone.

There’s too much for me to write and say about him and many people have done it so much better. The theatres will commemorate his life in some way in the future. We’re just thinking how. We will, of course, keep you posted as and when. ”

Garry Gannicliffe says..“ I've been thinking about him a lot in the past few weeks, having not managed to get a ticket to Latitude were he did a show earlier this summer. Randomly bumped into another friend of his at Mathew St Fest so he remained in my thoughts. So, so sad. Marvellous man and a loyal friend. Maybe I'll write again when the shock subsides.”

William Leece says..“ It was one of those defining moments. A Liverpool wine bar, longer ago that I really want to admit to. Sean Halligan spotted me alone, and called me over. “Come and have a drink with Ken Campbell…”

What followed was a night never to be forgotten. Those were the days of Aunt Twackys, the C G Jung Festival, the Liverpool School of Language Music Dream and Pun, the days when lunacy was licensed. And at the heart of it all was that most creative and unforgettable of lunatics, Ken Campbell.

Keeping pace with his fizzing inventiveness and quicksilver conversation was an effort. Carl Gustav Jung naturally led into synchronicity, which slid so easily into coincidences. But how did we drift into whisky shops in Tel Aviv?

And what logic, lubricated by Kirklands’ house red, led us to great dawns we had seen? A few were pretty obvious on my part: shimmering summer mornings when undergraduate parties were only just gathering pace, while he came up with the grey mists of his native Essex.

It was time for each of us to play out trump card.

(Simultaneously) “The greatest dawn I ever saw was…” (A pause) “The sun rising above the Dead Sea..”
We both stopped. One us had to break the silence.
Me “Over the mountains of…”
KC “Moab”
Me “From the summit of…”
KC “Mount Massada…”

We drank a toast to the remarkable co-incidence of a desert dawn inspiring us both in exactly the same place.

We had other nights together in other bars, both nothing quite as inspired and lunatic as this first encounter.

He was an unforgettable talent, fizzing right to the end and taken from us far to soon. ”

John Lennon Airport says..“ Good on yer Bill.”

Larry says..“ Firstly, can I say that Gemma's tribute to Ken [echoed by Deborah] was very moving. To have such a eulogy from one who knows so much about theatre in Liverpool and who recognised Ken's idiosyncratically unique style is praise indeed.

My tribute pales in comparison but I write from the heart nonetheless. I first met Ken was when he had assembled the proto-Science Fiction Theatre crowd at the upstairs parlour at the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream and Pun in Mathew Street one very warm evening in late '76. It was an electric experience as Ken brought us magically through this esoteric tale of cosmic conspiracies, masonic rites of passage, the secrets of the Golden Apple, the properties of AUM, singing dolphins and the imminent emanantisation of the eschaton and that's just a small fraction of it.

The Liverpool School's 'First Annual Jung Festival' [created by Peter and Sean O'Halligan] had recently raised the collective conciousness levels remarkably high and it seemed obvious that synchronicity was about to change the lives of everyone present. That night...'Illuminatus' came to be and the rest is history, and you all know the story by now.

Some of it is still to be written, as much of it has entered the realm of folklore, but personally, I did enjoy leaping onstage from the front-row seats at the Cottesloe on it's opening night to join in the singing of the Discordian Anthem. In fact, Ken encouraged me to do it. As I recall, it went thus: 'We who shall be numberless, We...the salt of the sea. We...asleep but slumberless, We, of course meaning Me'.

The Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool and the Liverpool School sparked the creative talents of so many people...it's influence went into new music at Eric's, into film and TV, into other new drama, into new writing, into painting, into poetry...areas almost impossible to list...

And so, Ken’s finally learnt the art of invisibility, though this time it’s not by simply ‘hiding in front of things’. I’ll miss him greatly, particularly his fondness for making those telephone calls at any hour of the day or night...I'll miss his endless wit, his love of story-telling, his deep knowledge of cosmic and synchronistic events, his rasping, articulate voice, his arcane curiosity, his ability to make you see the world in a completely different light.

But most of all, I’ll miss his love of life and the a-causal connections which led to the telling of strange and bizarre tales. He made it all so immensely interesting and, in doing so, to see the surreal and hilariously funny side of practically everything.

Together with his many, many friends here in Liverpool, including all the people whose destiny he has influenced, we say "O Hail, Ken".

His presence across the varied worlds of the stage, of science, of molecular physics and of self-discovery truly bestow upon him the title of 21st century 'renaissance man'...the roots of that word stemming from 'rebirth'. In that spirit, may I say that his inspiration surely lives on here in the Creative Centre of the Universe. ”

albert dock says..“ i was one of the lucky ones who saw all of "the warp". it was, and still is, the most wonderful piece of theatre. i have waited forever too see something as insane and exhilirating since!i met ken fleetingly some years later whilst walking through town with an actor friend of mine. richie spotted ken lurking in a doorway in richmond st. "look there's ken campbell lurking in that doorway" said he "struth" said i, whereupon ken leapt out of said doorway shouting "richie aaaagh how are you" a very amusing conversation ensued until ken suddenly shouted "must fly" shook our hands and flew.i, like so many touched by the great man, will miss him dearly. as pointed out earlier he was a TRUE celebrity”

Ros kaye says..“ By chance Leon and I popped into Cafe Rouge, Loughton one day, lo and behold to our surprise there was Ken in the back garden smoking his cigar. I only met him this once but he made an everlasting impression on me, he kept us entertained with his amazing stories and the hour flew by, seemed like 5 minutes. A truly charismatic person who will be sadly missed. My condolences to his family. Nice to see Peter O'Halligan mentioned, charming man.”

Ros kaye says..“ By chance Leon and I popped into Cafe Rouge, Loughton one day, lo and behold to our surprise there was Ken in the back garden smoking his cigar. I only met him this once but he made an everlasting impression on me, he kept us entertained with his amazing stories and the hour flew by, seemed like 5 minutes. A truly charismatic person who will be sadly missed. My condolences to his family. Nice to see Peter O'Halligan mentioned, charming man.”

Richard Helm says..“ I have two favourite Ken Campbell quotes. The first was from a time when he had a very limited time to put on a play, so on the first occasion that he assembled the company he said "right we are not going to have time for problems so we aren't going to have any. Challenges are fine, I don't mind challenges, they can be met. But a problem needs to be solved, people like to chew them over and we haven't got time for that nonsense."

The other occasion was the night before we were due to stage a mass improvisation called "Farting About In Disguises" Some of the company had no stage experience and they were a bit worried about doing something as risky as improvising a whole evening. Ken had this reassuring piece of advice: "Don't worry about failure. Audiences don't mind actors who fail. In fact they rather enjoy it. Providing they fail heroically."

I had planned on knowing him for at least another twenty years, but you should know better than to think Ken will ever do what you expect.”

Andy Melia says..“ And he had much better eyebrows than Dennis Heally!”

Chris Bernard says..“ Larry's post brought back many memories of Illuminatus! I was a founder member of the Science Fiction Theatre (the company & stage manager)and it was a big show! Ken was utterly tireless, I have truly never met anyone in the business with his energy. I remember Ken (whilst being in total 'control') was a great collaborator and his ability to make everyone feel that they were an essential part of the show created such a phenomenal sense of belonging - we all felt we were part of something very special. On the opening night at the Cottesloe (32 years ago!)my nerves were well and truly gone, I had to try and control the monstrous regiment that was the S F Theatre of Liverpool. We hadn't had time to do a tech run, the theatre was being used for the very first time - an hour before the opening they were still putting in carpets. It was chaotic - I was stuck on the book - (Illuminatus! had 999 lighting & sound cues). Ken appeared at my side, I freaked and pleaded with him 'we weren't ready'. Ken wrote on my book something like "do what thou wilt" and left me to it. And the ****ing goat! One performance we ended up with a Llama! (Ken and animals!) Every imaginable **** up happened - one of many was when I cued Bill Nighy, he was nowhere to be found. I was forced to call an unscheduled interval. Bill had fallen asleep behind the set. Ken seemed completely unfazed - in fact he seemed delighted. What I guess I'm trying to say is that so much of the work in theatre, TV and the arts always seems to be so stressful. The conditions the S F theatre worked in were tough, to say the least - working with Ken, being part of his gang was never stressful (apart from my momentary lapse). Ken was also a gentle and kind man, travelling back to UK, from the Amsterdam run of Illuminatus!, On the cross channel ferry, I was as sick as a dog, Ken came to my cabin with a bucket and started to talk about his 'notion' of doing a musical on a cross channel ferry! I was so engrossed I stopped vomitting. I was always amazed he wasn't a household name (he'd probably hate that) but the response to his death has been astounding. So many incredible anecdotes and fond memories. His influece and inspiration (on so many people as evidenced by the many posts across the net) in my humble opinion he's in the same league as Orson Welles, Dali or Cocteau etc. The end of the Discordian anthem says "We Discordians Must stick apart!" All hail Eris! All hail Ken Campbell!”

Jeff Merrifield says..“ I'd rather not had the sad news that my mentor and bessy friend Ken Campbell had died, but I'm a bit glad I was in Liverpool when I did. I was here because we had just done performances at the Kazimier of a show about Ian Dury I had written. Only a week before Ken had seen our show in Edinburgh and we had made plans for him to visit me in Shetland when I got back. Little did I know that would be the last time I would see him. I was about to set off back home to Shetland on Sunday when I got the call from Pru, Ken's former wife, with the sad news. Being here in Liverpool, with so many people who knew and genuinely loved him has been the best solace and comfort. To say he was a legend in this city is an understatement. There has been much said about doing Illuminatus! again, or reviving The Warp, and there has been a lot of enthusiasm for such ideas. But a new idea is germinating, one that the spirit of Ken Campbell will no doubt inhabit. A new show (of Illuminatus! and Warp-like proportions) is being conceived based on the Metafex initiative that starts in the city in November. In about a year's time watch out for Metafex: the Performance, an odyssey, journey, right of passage experience. You heard it first here and it will be a show that is wedded firmly into the Ken Campbell tradition and an embodiment of his inspiration.”

Steve O'Toole says..“ My old drama teacher interviewed Ken for his M.A. He asked him what method he used with the actors. Ken replied that he used 'The Sun' method. "I roll up a copy of the sun very carefully", he explained. "Then I wack the actor on the head with it and shout 'Learn yer bloody lines!'(This was pre-Hillsborough. I'm sure he moved on to 'The Mirror' method afterwards).”

Rodrigo says..“ The many moving tributes and anecdotes about Ken have made wonderful reading. I last saw him perform in Liverpool in November 2007 at Mello Mello with my old mate Angie, our lovely editor where he enthralled one and all with a mischievous glint in his eye and his razor sharp wit. In Liverpool, Ken will always be remembered with smiles and fondness. ”

Jonangus Mackay says..“ When I got back from the burial last night I felt, for the first time in years, really angry and lonely. Having shoveled earth on the coffin, was finally forced to accept Campbell really was dead after all. And coming across this, written & read by Alan Moore, had me sobbing, not just for the dead Wilsons but KC: http://tinyurl.com/64sfjp ”