The History of the Self - Made Record
We are joined by oral historian and broadcaster Alan Dein. We discuss the history, culture and technology of the coin-operated machines that allowed ordinary people to make a record of themselves in t...
1 Dec 202453min
The Return of the Mystic
What is a mystic, what is mysticism, what is the mystical? Many of us have sense that there is something mystical, or at least mysterious, underpinning things, some countercultural force that defies e...
27 Nov 202454min
The Cut Up Life of Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis P-Orridge was a performance artist, neo Pagan, Industrial music innovator, the co-founder of COUM, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV and an arch provocateur. He was variously described as a wre...
12 Nov 20241h
Growing Up in the Fallout of the Utopian Dream
In the turbulent late 1970s, six-year-old Susanna Crossman moved with her mother and siblings from a suburban terrace to a crumbling mansion deep in the English countryside. They would share their ...
28 Okt 20241h 3min
The Man Who Wrote the Joy of Sex
The Joy of Sex was published in 1972 and for years, was rarely out of the bestseller lists, generating sequels, revised editions and a lot of imitators - so how could it be countercultural? For two...
15 Okt 20241h 7min
High Society - Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture
*Every society is a high society. Getting high has been a pursuit of civilisations throughout time. *Every day, people drink coffee in European cafes, chew betel nut in Indonesian markets, nibble c...
29 Sep 20241h 4min
The Underworld
“Imagination thrives in darkness” We talk about The Undergound often at the Bureau - not London’s subterranean rail sytem, but the countercultural alternative society of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s...
16 Sep 202452min
Dope Girls - The Birth of the British Drug Underground
*In 1918, Billie Carleton, a West End actress, came off stage, went partying with friends, returned to her flat and was found dead the next morning - apparently of a cocaine overdose. A few years late...
1 Sep 202458min
