Mike Don, the radical bookseller and founder and editor of the underground magazine Mole Express, has died at the age of 77, the Guardian reported.
Don founded Mole Express, which "covered local politics, the counterculture, and music- and drug-related issues," in Manchester, England, in 1970. In 1974, he became part of a collective that took over the Grass Roots bookshop in Manchester.
Under the collective's stewardship, the bookstore became the largest radical bookshop in Britain outside of London. Grass Roots occasionally "attracted unwanted attention from the far-right," and in one such encounter Don was able to diffuse the situation by starting a conversation about rockabilly music.
Following Mole Express's closure in 1977, Don created the magazine the City Enquirer. For three years, it delved "into the inner workings of Manchester city council and Greater Manchester police." Though Don was reportedly a "fine investigative journalist," he "had no interest in a mainstream media career."
He was a part of Grass Roots until 1982, after which he started a mail-order book business called Dreamberry Wine that initially focused on science fiction. Don ran Dreamberry Wine, which eventually became an online business, from his home in Manchester until late 2020.