When they burned £1million on a beach on Jura on August 23, 1994, the KLF said they would return in 23 years.

At 23 seconds past midnight yesterday, they kept their promise.

Pop’s greatest provocateur, Scots minister’s son Bill Drummond, 64, hurtled back into the spotlight with partner Jimmy Cauty, 60, in the ice cream van that’s been a theme in their songs throughout their career.

They made their comeback at the launch in Liverpool of their new book, 2023 – a nightmarish vision of a world in the not-too-distant future that’s ruled by big corporations.

The number 23 is another KLF theme. Many believe it to have mystical properties.

But Drummond and Cauty have always been coy about what it means to them – as they have with most other things. For one, they have never explained why they torched £1million in £50 notes, their last remaining royalties from a pop career studded with global hits including Justified and Ancient and What Time Is Love?

The stunt was condemned by many at the time, with critics pointing out that the cash would have helped a great many people if given to good causes.

KLF arrive at the News From Nowhere bookshop in Liverpool for the launch of 2023

But Cauty once said: “There’s plenty of people who want to give money to charity. We want to do something we found more interesting with the money.”

The cash-burning was the most notorious in a long line of KLF stunts. Drummond and Cauty also burned their debut album in woods in Sweden after Abba refused to let them use samples of Dancing Queen, and left a dead sheep on stage at the Brits after firing fake machine guns into the crowd.

They never explain anything they do, but many believe they are trying to subvert the music industry, consumerism and global capitalism itself.

There won’t be any music in their comeback, or so we’re told.

Instead, there will be a three-day festival of talks, performance and live art, starting with a debate themed: “Why did the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid?”

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