Glastonbury in 1971 looks amazing and the tickets were free

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Tents and people in front of the Pyramid StageImage source, Getty Images

Getting covered in mud, wearing body paint and hanging out with some bloke called Tim who does "something with his hands" for a living.

It might sound like a review of this year's Glastonbury but it's actually what the festival was like back at the beginning, in 1971.

The first event was held in 1970, when 1,500 people paid £1 for a ticket, including free milk from Worthy Farm.

But 1971 saw the beginning of the festival as we know it today.

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Crowds of 12,000 got their first sighting of the Pyramid Stage, at what was then known as Glastonbury Fayre, but there was one big difference - tickets were free.

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What TV's John Craven said about drugs (you may recognise him from Countryfile)

"Though to the hippies the Glastonbury Fayre has been a time of peace and happiness to everyone, there have been certain aspects of it that have disturbed what they call 'the straight society' - that's just about everyone but themselves," says John Craven, standing with his arms crossed in a field.

"Aspects such as the free love-making, the fertility rites, the naked dancing and most of all, the drug-taking.

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His news report shows police using binoculars, "keeping an eye" on the festival from a nearby field.

"There had been pot and acid, that's cannabis and LSD, but there have only been two arrests and police said they were quite surprised and pleased about the way the festival had gone on," he explains.

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What the newspapers said

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It would be fair to say that the event didn't get the kind of coverage Glastonbury gets today but it was acknowledged in a few articles.

A writer for the Guardian, external mainly ignored the "pop fans" in favour of talking about the "hardcore of truth seekers" in attendance.

He describes priests at the "Jesus Tent" who have "magnificent ginger sideburns", while others are on a search for the "occult".

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"Paul, who comes from Southampton, says that some astral travellers prefer to take a shortcut by dropping acid," John Cunningham writes.

"A man called Tim 'who does things with his hands' is here because he reckons that advances made in communications through technology have neglected the power of mystic communications. He wants to revive this."

The musicians who played

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David Bowie, who also headlined Glastonbury in 2000, was top of the bill in 1971.

He was joined on the line-up by US folk singer Joan Baez and Fairport Convention, a folk rock band from London.

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Other artists included Melanie, Hawkwind, Traffic and and Quintessence.

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