Penny Rimbaud

Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943, Northwood, Middlesex, England), better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977. Rimbaud (so named as a tribute to poet Arthur Rimbaud, the 'Penny' being a pun on the phrase "arfer (half a) penny", referring to the long discontinued Britis... more

Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943, Northwood, Middlesex, England), better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977. Rimbaud (so named as a tribute to poet Arthur Rimbaud, the 'Penny' being a pun on the phrase "arfer (half a) penny", referring to the long discontinued British Ha'penny coin) attended the South East Essex Technical College and School of Art in the early 1960s, where he exhibited a talent for tailoring. In the same period he appeared on TV show Ready Steady Go! to receive a prize from John Lennon for winning a competition to produce a piece of artwork depicting The Beatles' song "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". Inspired by the film Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Rimbaud set up the anarchist/pacifist Dial House community in 1967 with Gee Vaucher, and, together with his friend Phil Russell (aka Wally Hope),... less