*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
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
The Rise and Fall of the '80s Free Festival
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Child of the Commune
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
What was it like to live in a commune? What was it like to grow up in a commune?
NANCY THOMPSON came to the Bureau to tell us. She was born in The Shrubb Family Commune - one that was set up in a big old farmhouse in rural Norfolk in 1970 - and, remarkably, one that is still going today.
In the early to mid '60s many Western cities were magnets drawing the young and hip in from the regions, shaking off the austerity of the '50s, joining their urban peers in experimenting with new and radical ways of loving and living. Communes and squats sprung up all over places like London.
But as the '60s drew to a close, there was a reverse movement and many left the cities heading back out into the shires to try to build a new kind of sociey in the quieter, slower life of village and market town.
Some settled in North Suffolk and South Norfolk, an open countryside of low hills and wide plains with few towns and many villages where a commune movement had been established from 1965.
Nancy's is a complex, tumultous tale - at times a rather bewildering tapestry of overlapping relationships and familes, the British class system, rural life, travellers, gypsies and the gentry, encounter groups, blackmail, rogue psychiatrists, lsd - and horses..
For more on the British commune and intentional community culture of the 60s and 70s see below
The countercultural movement of the 1960s and 1970s in Britain gave rise to a surge of communal living experiments known as hippy communes or intentional communities. These collectives emerged as an alternative to mainstream society, rejecting consumerism, conventionality, and materialism in favor of a more liberated, eco-friendly, and cooperative way of life.
The origins of this communal living trend can be traced back to the mid 60s, when a confluence of social, political, and cultural factors created an environment ripe for such experiments. The rise of the hippie counterculture, and the burgeoning environmental and back-to-the-land movements all contributed to the growth of communal living arrangements.
One of the earliest and most influential British hippy communes was Findhorn in Scotland, established in 1962 by Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy Maclean. Originally a small caravan park, Findhorn evolved into a thriving spiritual community centered around principles of sustainability, meditation, and harmony with nature. Its success inspired many other like-minded groups to establish their own communes across Britain.
As the movement gained momentum in the late 1960s, a wave of new communes emerged, each with its own unique philosophy and approach to communal living. Some, like The Diggers in Cornwall and the Laurieston Hall community in Scotland, focused on self-sufficiency through organic farming and sustainable living practices. Others, like the Freestone community in Essex and the Newbold Trust in Worcestershire, emphasized artistic expression, alternative spirituality, and personal growth.
Many of these communes adopted a back-to-the-land ethos, seeking to reconnect with nature and escape the constraints of urban living. They often established themselves in rural areas, repurposing abandoned farmhouses, old mills, or purchasing inexpensive land to build their communities from scratch. This allowed them to embrace a more self-reliant and environmentally conscious lifestyle, growing their own food, generating their own energy, and living off the land as much as possible.
While each commune had its own unique character and rules, they shared several common principles. Communal living, non-hierarchical decision-making processes, shared resources and responsibilities, and a commitment to peace and environmentalism were hallmarks of these communities. Many also embraced alternative lifestyles, such as polyamory, nudism, or open relationships, challenging traditional societal norms.
As the 1970s progressed, the hippy commune movement faced various challenges, including internal conflicts, financial struggles, and external criticism from more conservative segments of society. Some communes disbanded or evolved into more structured communities, while others managed to endure and adapt to changing times.
One notable example of a long-lasting commune is Braziers Park in Oxfordshire, founded in 1950 and still active today. While not initially a traditional hippy commune, it embraced many of the same principles in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming a hub for alternative living, education, and environmental activism.
Another enduring community is the Findhorn Foundation, which has grown from its humble beginnings into a thriving eco-village and spiritual center, attracting visitors and residents from around the world.
Beyond the more well-known communes, countless smaller collectives and intentional communities also emerged during this period, often existing independently or flying under the radar. These included urban squatting communities, housing co-operatives, and alternative living arrangements that embraced the communal ethos without necessarily adopting the full-fledged "hippy" lifestyle.
These communities served as laboratories for experimentation, pushing the boundaries of what was considered acceptable or possible, and leaving an enduring legacy that continues to influence various aspects of modern life.
Many of the principles and practices pioneered by these communities, such as sustainable living, cooperative decision-making, and alternative education, have been adopted and adapted by various organizations and movements.
The communal living ethos has remained alive, albeit on a smaller scale, with contemporary intentional communities and eco-villages continuing to explore alternative ways of living and coexisting with nature.
#communes #counterculture #findhorn #findhornfoundation #utopia #alternativecommunities #intentionalcommunities #esoteric #hippie #shrubbfamily #globaltruckingcompany #drugs #lsd #psychiatry
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Liberation Part 2: Glad to be Gay
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Being the further adventures of English musician broadcaster and LGTBQ activist TOM ROBINSON, as he gets deeply involved in the gay counterculture of London in the '70s whilst on his journey to having a huge hit with the song 2-4-6-8 Motorway
We hear about the genesis of another hit - (Sing if You're)Glad to Be Gay - a remarkable, unprecedented protest song that climbed into public consciousness in the late 70s (despite the best efforts of some in the establshment), and about Tom's later hit War Baby.
We talk about the desperate times in between, about his activism - not only for the queer commmuity but as part of the Rock Against Racism movement - and how he had to face one his greatest challenges in coming out for a second time, risking the disapproval of the very community he had fought for for many years…
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Liberation Part 1: Coming out in the Counterculture
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Saturday Feb 17, 2024
The Beat Goes On: The Sounds of Allen Ginsberg
Saturday Feb 17, 2024
Saturday Feb 17, 2024
In May 1965, Allen arrived in London and gave a free reading at Better Books in Charing Cross Road. It was an event described by poet-provocateur Jeff Nuttall as "the first healing wind on a very parched collective mind” and one that provided the impetus for the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall, a hugely significant catalyst for the first British Summer of Love.
Music featured prominently in Ginsberg’s work - both in his self-accompanied performances and live collaborations with artists including Dylan, Paul McCartney and Patti Smith - and in the inspiration it has had on the wide range of musicians who have set it to music.
Monday Feb 05, 2024
London's Lost Street of Song
Monday Feb 05, 2024
Monday Feb 05, 2024
In the '60s, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks came here, so did Donovan and Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Elton John, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. A popular rendezvous was La Gioconda, an Italian cafe which most visited at some point or other – David Bowie was said to practically live there.
Later when Malcolm McLaren was looking for a rehearsal space for The Sex Pistols, he was delighted to find room in Denmark Street, installing his upstarts in the heart of the traditional music industry - like Greek soldiers inside the Trojan Horse.
Saturday Jan 20, 2024
Countercultural Libido: A History of 'Perversion'
Saturday Jan 20, 2024
Saturday Jan 20, 2024
Warning: this episode contains discussions of sexual and other adult themes.
Julie Peakman is a historian of eighteenth-century culture who specialises in the study sexuality and pornography.
She is the author of 'Sexual Perversions, 1670-1890', 'Whore Biographies 1700-1825', The Development of Pornography in 18thC England' and many other books.
She came to the Bureau to discuss her latest: 'The Pleasure's All Mine - A History of Perverse Sex' which contains many affecting stories of how benign sexual difference has, in the past, lead to what we would now perceive as unjust and brutal persecution.
'Perversion' has been defined as 'showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a way that is unreasonable or unacceptable' or 'contrary to the accepted or expected standard or practice' - rather like 'counterculture'.
It has at different times included masturbation, male and female homosexuality, cross-dressing, bestiality, sadomasochism, necrophilia, incest, exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, even straight-up vanilla heterosexual sex in certain circumstances.
Julie's conviction is that the very word and concept of 'perversion' has reached its expiry date - we discuss.
#perversion #sex #london #pornography #fetish #bdsm #sexuality #gay #necrophilia #incest #masturbation #bestiality #prostitution #flagellation #homesexuality #morality
Monday Jan 08, 2024
The Incredible String Band Part 2: Inside Looking Out
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Monday Dec 25, 2023
The Incredible String Band - Part 1: Outside Looking In
Monday Dec 25, 2023
Monday Dec 25, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
In the ’60s: The Birth of the British Underground
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Nov 27, 2023
How to Expand Your Consciousness Part 3: The Dreaming
Monday Nov 27, 2023
Monday Nov 27, 2023
Hergé ’s 'Tintin in Tibet' - the first of many Tintin stories - the same.
*Keith Richards claimed to have dreamed the riff to 'Satisfaction', Paul McCartney the melody to 'Yesterday’ - the most covered pop song in history. Hell, even Aphex Twin says that 70% of his album 'Selected Ambient Works Volume II' was written whilst lucid dreaming
*This episode is all about The Dreaming - and our guide is one of the UK’s foremost dream researchers: SARAH JANES.
*Sarah gives some great tips on how to become a lucid dreamer, tells us about her work - and drops a couple of mind bombs on us.
Saturday Nov 11, 2023
Remembering the Crazy Diamond
Saturday Nov 11, 2023
Saturday Nov 11, 2023
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
How To Expand Your Consciousness Part 2: Tripping
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
*Neuropsychologist ANDY MITCHELL decided to investigate for himself, taking ten different drugs in ten different settings - from a London neuroimaging lab to the Colombian Amazon via Silicon Valley and his friend's basement. Along the way, in a picaresque, deeply strange and often wild odyssy, he encountered scientists and gangsters, venture capitalists and con men, psychonauts and shamans.
#tripping #psychedelics #theunconscious #consciousness #truth #madness #counterculture #drug #lsd #ayahuasca #neuroscience #consciousness
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Songs of War and Peace - with Boris Grebenshikov
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Monday Oct 16, 2023
*He is perhaps the biggest name in Russian rock music, famous as the leader of the band Aquarium throughout his homeland and 'Outer Russia’ (as the huge and growing number of Russian emigres are called), but he is now listed as a “foreign agent” - basically an anti-patriot, a traitor, for criticising Russia’s war
*Aquarium were pioneers of the clandestine homegrown rock scene that was born in early '70s USSR before emerging from the underground to become the pied pipers of perestroika, selling millions of albums (but usually getting paid nothing).
*After a long and illustrous career, Boris Grebenshikov now lives in London and in response to the conflict has put together an extraordinary compilation aiming to help children in Ukraine - and for the friends and fans he has had to leave behind.
*We talk of the USSR in the 60s, cultural censorship,the power of music, the KGB arresting your friends, being back on the outside yet again - and we hear selections from the 'Heal the Sky’ album.
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Riding The Oblivion Express - with Brian Auger
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Monday Oct 02, 2023
•With Julie Driscoll he had a huge hit with a masterful psychedelic rendition of Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire”
Monday Sep 18, 2023
The Soho Bibles: The Secret Porn of Post-War London
Monday Sep 18, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
*And we talk about Mickey Mouse having sex, the secret room of The British Museum, the private case of The British Library, a prehistoric phallus, erotic fish, police corruption, The Obscene Publications Act, Holywelll Street - and pornography as counterculture..
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
How to Expand Your Consciousness Part 1: Philosophy
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
The Music of the Cults
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
*Since the 1950s, certain charismatic individuals have taken it upon themselves to collect others around them in ‘cults’, rejecting mainstream religion and society in favour of a claim to secret knowledge of the path of liberation. The consequences have often been disastrous, involving the devotees actually getting liberated from their money, freedom - and sometimes, their lives.
#counterculture #cults #cultleaders #newage #thenewage #secretsocieties #jimjones #jonestown #marshallapplewhite #heavensgate #thechildrenofgod #manson #charlesmanson #davidberg #scientology #guru #godbody #thehorsehospital
Sunday Aug 06, 2023
Rock, Radicals and Racism
Sunday Aug 06, 2023
Sunday Aug 06, 2023
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
So You Say You Want a (Sexual) Revolution?
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
*No era in recent history has been both more celebrated and more vilified than the 1960s.
*For some it was a time when music, fashion and drugs enabled young people to express their individuality and freedom and their hopes and dreams of a better world.
For others, it marked the advent of the permissive society, the undermining of authority, family values and common decency.
*PETER DOGGET, journalist, cultural critic and writer, whose book 'Growing Up: Sex in the 60s' takes an unflinching look at the dark underbelly of the sexual revolution, came into the Bureau to explain that while the orgiastic hedonism, ever-changing partners and polymorphous perversity of countercultural myth was enjoyed by a tiny minority, the vast majority of the British population could only gawp from the sidelines, still living in a world with a moral code that stretched back to the Victorian Age.
Sunday Jul 09, 2023
Knocking On Heaven’s Door
Sunday Jul 09, 2023
Sunday Jul 09, 2023
*Communes and communities sprang up in rural areas as spiritual seekers, hopeful hippies, fugitives, folkies, freaks and wild wanderers on the seas of fate tried to create new societies, living by their own values - often away from the watchful eye of the authorities.
Sunday Jun 25, 2023
A Short History of The Pagan
Sunday Jun 25, 2023
Sunday Jun 25, 2023
#pagan #counterculture #wicca #heathen #dionfortune #psychedelicsound #witch #esoteric #thegoldendawn #aleistercrowley #magic #pre-christian
Sunday Jun 11, 2023
The ’4000 Year Old Rock ’n’ Roll Band’
Sunday Jun 11, 2023
Sunday Jun 11, 2023
#joujouka #counterculture #themastermusiciansofjoujouka #sufi #brianjones #psychedelicsound #psychedelicrock #williamburroughs #briongyson #rollingstones #beatgeneration #thebeats
Saturday May 27, 2023
The Life and Psychedelic Times of the 13th Floor Elevators
Saturday May 27, 2023
Saturday May 27, 2023
Sunday May 14, 2023
The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift
Sunday May 14, 2023
Sunday May 14, 2023
*They thought they were spiritual samurai, rebuilding Britain after the Great War with magical rituals, outdoor living and utopian vision. They were clean-living proto-new age weekend hippies directed by a messianic autocratic visionary and produced extraordinary art and craft of graphics, symbols, costumes.
Sunday Apr 30, 2023
The Secret History of Psychonauts
Sunday Apr 30, 2023
Sunday Apr 30, 2023
Well that was certainly true of some of the subjects of this episode.
Sunday Apr 16, 2023
The Vision Collectors
Sunday Apr 16, 2023
Sunday Apr 16, 2023
https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571357567-the-premonitions-bureau/
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Saturday Apr 01, 2023
Moss Side Story - with Barry Adamson
Saturday Apr 01, 2023
Saturday Apr 01, 2023
Sunday Mar 19, 2023
The Life and Times of Peter Coyote 2: Buddhism in Babylon
Sunday Mar 19, 2023
Sunday Mar 19, 2023
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
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
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#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
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Monday May 23, 2022
On the Farm with Allen Ginsberg
Monday May 23, 2022
Monday May 23, 2022
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Bureau of Lost Culture at the Hay Festival