Dave Cunliffe in 1964, a year into his editorship of Poetmeat magazine. Photograph: Peter Cunliffe BruceWilkinson Fri 14 May 2021 13.10 EDT Last modified on Fri 14 May 2021 13.11 EDT My friend Dave Cunliffe, who has died aged 80, was one of a group of poets and publishers who helped to spark the 1960s British counterculture and a wave of experimental verse through their small press activity. Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, to Alex, an insurance salesman, and Hanna (nee Woods), a nurse, Dave went to Blakey Moor secondary modern school in the town. In 1957 he moved to London, where he got to know the poets Lee Harwood, Michael Horovitz, Jeff Nuttall and Adrian Mitchell. They encouraged him to write, while the artist and critic Arthur Moyse, whom he met when selling copies of Freedom