
*The Bureau of Lost Culture broadcast curious, rare, half-forgotten, half-remembered countercultural stories, oral histories and tales from the underground. *Join host Stephen Coates and a wide range of guests including musicians, writers and cultural commentators like Billy Bragg, Lisa Law, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Jill Drower, Peter Coyote and Johnny Marr in conversation. *Listen live on Saturdays at 9.00am on London’s premier independent station Soho Radio or via catch-up on all major podcast providers: *The Bureau is now collected at The British Library Sound Archive
Episodes

4 days ago
4 days ago


Monday Mar 06, 2023
The Life and Times of Peter Coyote 1: Diggers to Dharma Bums
Monday Mar 06, 2023
Monday Mar 06, 2023
*He is a writer, a poet, an ordained Buddhist priest who has been practicing Zen for over 50 years.
*But that's not the half of it - as we find out in this, the first of two episodes charting the extraordinary life of PETER COYOTE.


Saturday Feb 18, 2023
The Divided Self of R.D. Laing
Saturday Feb 18, 2023
Saturday Feb 18, 2023
*In 1965 the psychiatrist R.D.LAING formed a commune in an East London community centre called Kingsley Hall where the psychotic and the schizophrenic could live on equal terms with their carers. There were no locks and no anti-psychotic drugs but there were all-night therapy sessions, dinners with visiting mystics and high grade LSD available to any who chose to take it
*The Neuro-psychiatrist Anthony David came to the Bureau to talk about Laing and about how his groundbreaking book The Divided Self propelled him into the status of a countercultural guru. He grew his hair, he wore beads, he toured America speaking to large audiences and was asked to pronounce on all sorts of matters far beyond the subject of madness.
*For Tony's book 'Into the Abyss'
https://oneworld-publications.com/work/into-the-abyss/
*For the Bureau of Lost Culture
http://www.bureauoflostculture.com


Tuesday Feb 07, 2023
The Lost World of Cambodian Rock ’n’ Roll
Tuesday Feb 07, 2023
Tuesday Feb 07, 2023
*DEE PEYOK joins us to talk about 'Away From Beloved Lover'(Granta), her extraordinary book detailing the lost world of amazing music that flourished between 1955 and 1970 in Cambodia.
*And we hear of Dee’s own journey - an extraordinary odyssey into the heart of darkness - and light - in search of this lost world.
For more on Away From Beloved Lover: https://granta.com/products/away-from-beloved-lover/
For The Bureau of Lost Culture: www.bureauoflostculture.com
#Cambodia #KhmerRouge, #Sinsisamouth, #DeePayok, #PhnomPenh, #killingfields, #surfrock, #censorship, #Cambodiarocks, #Vietcong, #genocide #vietnamwar

Sunday Jan 22, 2023
BUREAU OF LOST CULTURE - Flashing on the Sixties Part 2
Sunday Jan 22, 2023
Sunday Jan 22, 2023
Feeding the Woodstock thousands, acid, the Summer of Love, the Haight Ashbury, Timothy Leary, anti-Vietnam war protests, the problems of free love and living in communes, the Monterey pop festival, The Diggers, Wavy Gravy, Owsley, Bob and Sarah Dylan, Peter Coyote, helping Dennis Hopper though a bad trip..
In this episode we sat down again with 80 year old photographer LISA LAW in her home in Mexico to hear more extraordinary tales from the her life on the frontiers of counterculture.
For more on Lisa, her film, book and images: www.flashingonthesixties.com/
For more on the Bureau: www.bureauoflostculture.com


#Dylan, #TheVelvetUnderground, #JanisJoplin, #TheBeatles, #OtisRedding, #PeterFonda, #DenisHopper, #TimothyLeary, #RamDass, #AllenGinsberg, KenKesey, #thehogfarm, #themerrypranksters, #wavygravy, #peterpaulandmary #haightashbury, #hippies, #psychedelicmushrooms, #lisalaw, #vietnamwar

Sunday Jan 08, 2023
Flashing On the Sixties: Part 1
Sunday Jan 08, 2023
Sunday Jan 08, 2023
Images copyright Lisa Law
#Dylan, #TheVelvetUnderground, #JanisJoplin, #TheBeatles, #OtisRedding, #PeterFonda, #DenisHopper, #TimothyLeary, #RamDass, #AllenGinsberg, KenKesey, thehogfarm, themerrypranksters, #wavygravy, #peter,paulandmary #haightashbury, #hippies, #psychedelicmushrooms, #lisalaw

Sunday Dec 18, 2022
La Rocka! The Life and Looks of Lloyd Johnson
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
*On top of that, his designs have appeared on many record sleeves including albums by Rod Stewart and Madness, in videos like George Michael’s" Faith”, in the films Quadrophenia and Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law and Mystery Train, and as stage costumes for David Bowie.
*The Face said he is one of the crucial figures in the development of British style.
*Lloyd came into the Bureau to share some of his stories. And we hear about growing up in Hastings, Kensington Market, the Kings Road, Mods vs Rockers, Fred Astaire, Freddy Mercury, model aeroplanes and much, more from a life lived in clothes for over 50 years.
#RodStewart #Madness #GeorgeMichael #Quadrophenia #JimJarmusch #DavidBowie #KeithRichards #BobDylan #JackNicholson #DavidBailey #TheClash #IggyPop #TomWaits #JohnnyMarr #NickCave #TheStrayCats #barryadamson #ThePretenders #lloydjohnson #larocka

Sunday Dec 04, 2022
Roentgenizdat - The Hidden History of Bone Music
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
Sunday Dec 04, 2022


Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Punk, Porn and Performance
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
*And she was there at the formation of Adam and the Ants and the Monochrome Set.
*We hear about gay London in the 70s, the derelict city, bedsit land, fetish wear, rubber miniskirts, Westwood and Mclaren, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Roxy, The Monochrome Set, her own band Rema Rema and of course Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant..


Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Tripping the Light Fantastic
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Sunday Nov 06, 2022


Monday Oct 24, 2022
The Last of the Merry Pranksters
Monday Oct 24, 2022
Monday Oct 24, 2022
*And at the end we hear some very positive news about a question that I suspect is troubling many of us


Monday Oct 10, 2022
The Lost Tarot Deck of Austin Osman Spare
Monday Oct 10, 2022
Monday Oct 10, 2022





Sunday Sep 25, 2022
The Cabaret of the Nameless
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
Sunday Sep 25, 2022


Monday Sep 12, 2022
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Monday Sep 12, 2022


Monday Aug 29, 2022
The Low Down LA Life of Tom Waits
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Monday Aug 29, 2022


Monday Aug 15, 2022
Sowing the Seeds of Love
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Monday Aug 15, 2022



Monday Aug 01, 2022
The Birth of the Asian Underground
Monday Aug 01, 2022
Monday Aug 01, 2022

Monday Jul 18, 2022
Alan Moore on Counterculture
Monday Jul 18, 2022
Monday Jul 18, 2022
*He is also an occultist, a ceremonial magician and an anarchist.


Monday Jul 04, 2022
Birth, Death - and Frestonia
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Monday Jul 04, 2022


Monday Jun 20, 2022
Women, Sex, Counterculture
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
*Sign up for The Bureau Newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC
#SydBarrett #Pink Floyd #Groupies #Frigidity #abortion #Ozmagazine #TheFemaleEunuch #germainegreer #jennyspires #theexplodinggalaxy

Sunday Jun 05, 2022
City of the Beast: Aleister Crowley’s London
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
*Sign up for The Bureau Newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC
* The Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/


Monday May 23, 2022
On the Farm with Allen Ginsberg
Monday May 23, 2022
Monday May 23, 2022

*Sign up for The Bureau Newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC
* The Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/

Monday May 09, 2022
Albion Dreaming - A Brief Trip Through the History of British LSD
Monday May 09, 2022
Monday May 09, 2022

* Sign up for The Bureau Newsletter to get countercultural treats https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC
* The Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/

Sunday Apr 24, 2022
On the Road ... with Johnny Marr
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Sunday Apr 24, 2022

* The Bureau Home https://www.bureauoflostculture.com
* The Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/
* The Bureau Newsletter https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC

Monday Apr 11, 2022
The Life and Times of Dubmeister Dennis Bovell
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Monday Apr 11, 2022
* Now he’s a DJ, multi-instrumentalist and producer of hundreds of records spanning reggae, lovers rock, soul, dub, punk and pop.
* He's even got an MBE.
* We dig into all that - or as much as we can - plus Hendrix, sound systems, cutting dub plates, sound clashes with Lee Scratch Perry, police harrasment, wrongful imprisonment and the youthful joys of eating breadfruit on the beach.

* The Bureau Home https://www.bureauoflostculture.com
* The Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/
* The Bureau Newsletter https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC

Monday Mar 28, 2022
The Exploding Galaxy
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Monday Mar 28, 2022
* The Bureau Home https://www.bureauoflostculture.com
* The Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/
* The Bureau Newsletter https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC

Sunday Mar 13, 2022
A Countercultural History of Camden Town
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
* Bureau Home www.bureauoflostculture.com
* Bureau Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/
* The Bureau Newsletter https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC

Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Countercultural Broadcasting: Urban Pirate Radio
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
* Ninja Tune head honcho and Coldcut co-pirate Jonathan More returns to the Bureau to talk about his adventures hi-jinxing and hi-jacking the airwaves in the Wild West of South London.
* For the second in our trilogy on illicit broadcasting, we hear tales of DJ derring-do during the birth Of Kiss Fm, once one of the coolest of the urban pirate radio stations and its transition to the commercial mainstream.
* And in the mix, we debate how the mainstream is dependent on the underground, the culture feeds on the counterculture, and along the way go crate-digging into how Jon caught the disease of collecting vinyl, putting on warehouse parties, life-changing meetings in London taxis, pirate TV, Coldcut's Solid Steel show - and nuclear power station ephemera..
* For Jon and Coldcut http://coldcut.net
* Jon’s Soho Radio show Out to Lunch https://sohoradiolondon.com/profile/jon-more/
Thanks for audio samples and info:
* DJ Food https://www.djfood.org/
* The Pirate Radio Archive https://www.thepiratearchive.net/
* AMFM.0rg https://www.amfm.org.uk/
* Death is Not the End https://deathisnot.bandcamp.com/album/london-pirate-radio-adverts-1984-1993-vol-1
Follow Us:
* Bureau Home www.bureauoflostculture.com
* Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bureauoflostculture/
* Get the Bureau Newsletter https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/N0ZYoFu/BOLC

Sunday Feb 13, 2022
The Man Who Drilled a Hole in his Head
Sunday Feb 13, 2022
Sunday Feb 13, 2022

Sunday Jan 30, 2022
A Soundtrack for a City
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
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Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
The Lives and Times of Michael Moorcock - Part 1
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
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Sunday Jan 02, 2022
The Lost World of The Self-Made Record
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
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Image courtesy Museum of London


Sunday Dec 19, 2021
Ms. Freedom: From Counterculture to Counter-couture
Sunday Dec 19, 2021
Sunday Dec 19, 2021
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Sunday Dec 05, 2021
The Countercultural World of Iain Sinclair
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
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Sunday Nov 21, 2021
Blondie, The Bowery and The Blank Generation
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
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Monday Nov 08, 2021
Raving Upon Thames
Monday Nov 08, 2021
Monday Nov 08, 2021
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Monday Oct 25, 2021
The Art and Craftiness of Sampling
Monday Oct 25, 2021
Monday Oct 25, 2021
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Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
The Rise and Fall of the Bootleg Record
Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
In this episode (a reboot of a Soho Radio show from 2018), we are joined by cultural commentator and lover of all things vinyl, Travis Elborough, to dig deep into the wild world of the dodgy pirates, counterfeits, unsanctioned outtakes, demos and live recordings that included the music of artists from Judy Garland through to the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan and from The Sex Pistols and Television and to Elliot Smith.
For more on Travis
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Monday Oct 04, 2021
Women Against The Bomb
Monday Oct 04, 2021
Monday Oct 04, 2021
Forty years ago, in the late summer of 1981, a group of women walked from Wales for over a hundred miles carrying a hand-made banner proclaiming their protest against American nuclear cruise missiles that were to be sationed in the UK. Their march to the US military base at Greenham Common led to the establishment of a camp that, for nearly two decades, drew women from all over the world to make their voices heard in the name of peace - and inspired fellow protestors internationally
Artist, activist and banner maker Thalia Cambpell one of the original marchers and founders of the camp, visits the Bureau to tell tales of dancing on nuclear silos, clashes with the authorities and the creation of vibrant protest art amongst the mud and mayhem.
And we are joined by historian Charlotte Dew, author of 'Women For Peace: Banners From Greenham Common’, a book published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the protests that presents image of the amazing banners made by Thalia and her fellows celebrating the collective power of women, women’s art and the history of peace campaigning.
For more on the book, the banners and the bomb
www.fourcornersbooks.co.uk/books/women-for-peace-banners-from-greenham-common/
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Monday Sep 13, 2021
Child of the Counterculture
Monday Sep 13, 2021
Monday Sep 13, 2021
A Zelig, a holy fool, a trickster, a black magician, a sociopath, a charlatan, a genius, a fabulist, a junkie, an alcoholic, a secret agent, a police informer, a disruptor, an often loveable preacher of Love who didn't actually seem to know what it meant?
LSD evangelist Michael Hollingshead might or might not have been all of these, but he was certainly a father.
What is it like to be the child of such a person?
Comedian Vanessa Hollingshead and writer Jeannie Hilton tell the dark and intense story of Vanessa’s tumultuous life with Michael, the working class Englishman who, according to his own claim, 'turned on the world' - or at least, many of those who did - including Timothy Leary and The Beatles - and who, like many who have advocated universal love and cosmic enlightenment, led a tragic and toxic personal life.
It's a wild and crazy trip, at times funny, at times disturbing. Be warned!
To find out more about The Divine Rascal film project
www.thedivinerascal.com
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Sunday Aug 29, 2021
William Burroughs and Friends
Sunday Aug 29, 2021
Sunday Aug 29, 2021
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Thursday Aug 19, 2021
Stories and Sounds of Central Asia
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
Thursday Aug 19, 2021
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Monday Aug 02, 2021
The Lost World of Pirate Radio - Part One
Monday Aug 02, 2021
Monday Aug 02, 2021
PIRATE RADIO first erupted in the UK in the early 1960s when stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London started to broadcast from ships moored offshore or disused WW2 forts in the north sea. They were set up by wildcat entrepreneurs and music enthusiasts to meet the growing demand for the pop, rock and underground music not catered for by the BBC who had a monopoly on the airwaves.
Music writer ROB CHAPMAN returns to the Bureau to tell the story of this first golden age of illicit broadcasting. We hear of the extraordinary life of pirate-in-chief Ronan O’Rahilly anarchist founder of Radio Caroline, of legendary broadcaster John Peel and his ground breaking show ‘The Perfumed Garden’, and of the oddities of life aboard the radio ships precariously sailing the airwaves.
Initially, the stations got round the law because they were broadcasting from international waters to delighted young people across the country before they ran foul of the authorities and were shut down in 1967. But their impact lived on: the government caved into youth demand for pop music with the creation of Radio 1 and many of the pirate radio DJs including Tony Blackburn, Kenny Everett, Johnnie Walker, Emperor Rosko went on to mainstream success with the BBC and commercial stations of the seventies and beyond.
For more on Rob
http://www.rob-chapman.com
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Monday Jul 19, 2021
The Acid Techno Squat Party
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
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Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Cancelled! The Counterculture of Ideas
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
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Tuesday Jun 22, 2021
The Life and Times of a Foreign Correspondent
Tuesday Jun 22, 2021
Tuesday Jun 22, 2021
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Monday Jun 07, 2021
London’s Lost World of Yiddisher Jazz
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Monday Jun 07, 2021
For more on Alan’s work
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Thursday May 27, 2021
The UFO Club
Thursday May 27, 2021
Thursday May 27, 2021
Journalist and counterculture commentator Peter Watts joins us to talk about The UFO Club, the massively influential short-lived London club of the late 1960s established by Joe Boyd and John "Hoppy” Hopkins.
It featured light shows, poetry readings, avant-garde art by Yoko Ono and many rock acts (Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Procul Harem) who later became massive.
For a brief two year period, it acted as the epicentre of the whirligig of summer of love underground London with a 'who's who of the counterculture' guest list and set the standards for psychedelic fashion and design.
Peter’s blog on London and counterculture:
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Thursday May 27, 2021
The English Underground with Nick Laird Clowes - Part 2
Thursday May 27, 2021
Thursday May 27, 2021
We return for Part 2 of a trip through the English Underground scene of the 1960s and 1970s led by musician and pied piper Nick Laird Clowes of The Dream Academy.
Nick tells of his extraordinary youth deeply immersed in the political, musical and alternative scenes of West London. We hear about meeting Iggy Pop in a toilet, Nick Drake's guitar, the demise of Syd Barrett and dinner with Andy Warhol amongst many other terrific tales of living the countercultural life.
For more on the Bureau of Lost Culture
www.bureauoflostculture.com
For more on Nick
www.nicklairdclowes.com

Thursday May 27, 2021
The English Underground with Nick Laird Clowes - Part 1
Thursday May 27, 2021
Thursday May 27, 2021
We take a romp through the underground alternative and music scene of the 1960s in the first half of a two part episode. Our guide is musician and Nick Laird Clowes who regales us with stories of running away to the Isle of Wight festival, dj-ing at The Roundhouse, meeting John Lennon amongst many countercultural characters of the day and much, much more.
All this before an age when most of us had even smoked a cigarette - and all before his days of pop stardom with The Dream Academy.
For more on the Bureau of Lost Culture
www.bureauoflostculture.com
For more on Nick
https://www.nicklairdclowes.com

Bureau of Lost Culture at the Hay Festival