Authors: Andy Roberts
Albion Dreaming
A popular history of LSD in Britain
Andy Roberts
Copyright © 2012 Andy Roberts
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To Gavin for charting the course,
Lindsay for being the imperfect guru and
Andy, Graeme, Chris and Helen, with whom I shared
adventures unfettered by time and space.
And for my Mountain Girl, blips!
What a long, strange, trip it’s been.
4. LSD: A Cure for the Common Cold?
7. Strangely Strange, but Oddly Normal
10. Bring What You Expect to Find
Steve Abrams | American parapsychologist who was at the heart of London’s LSD counter culture |
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Jonathan Aitken | Journalist who took LSD, when still legal, for the Evening Standard; subsequently a disgraced Conservative MP |
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Richard Alpert | Colleague of Timothy Leary at Harvard and co-conspirator in the early promotion of LSD; subsequently eschewed drugs and became the spiritual teacher Baba Ram Dass |
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George Andrews | Poet and author of books on drugs |
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Paul Arnabaldi | Backer of Richard Kemp’s Welsh LSD laboratory |
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Nigel Ayres | Attendee and recorder of many free festivals of the Seventies |
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Syd Barrett | Original Pink Floyd lead guitarist; LSD contributed to his descent into mental illness |
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Brian Barritt | Early LSD dealer in London; friend of Timothy Leary |
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Cecil Beaton | English fashion and portrait photographer |
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John Beresford | Paediatrician friend of Michael Hollinsghead |
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Christine Bott | Involved in Operation Julie conspiracy; common law wife of Richard Kemp |
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Joe Boyd | American record producer and co-founder of UFO club |
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Tara Browne | London socialite whose death possibly inspired the Beatles’ |
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Richard Brunstrom | Chief Constable of North Wales; believes all drugs should be legalised and regulated |
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Julia Callan-Thompson | Occasional hippie prostitute; involved with the Kapur LSD conspiracy |
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Ernest Chain | Nobel winning biochemist who appeared for the defence in a 1967 LSD trial |
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Derek Channon | Naval rating who underwent LSD experiment at Porton Down in 1953 |
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Harry Collumbine | Porton Down scientist |
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Sean Connery | James Bond actor who used LSD in psychotherapy |
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Julian Cope | Musician with a predilection for LSD |
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Francis Crick | Discovered DNA |
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Dave Cunliffe | LSD courier in late Fifties London |
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Paul Devereux | Author and researcher into prehistoric use of psychedelic drugs |
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Jeff Dexter | Legendary DJ at UFO club and 1971 Glastonbury Fair |
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Johnny Dolphin | American poet who spent time with Terry Taylor in Morocco |
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Bill (Ubi) Dwyer | LSD dealer in Australia and London; instigator behind the Windsor Free Festivals |
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Joel Elkes | Founder of Birmingham University’s Department of Experimental Psychology; early LSD experimenter; linked to MOD LSD experiments |
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John Esam | London LSD dealer in the early Sixties |
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Harry Fainlight | Poet who read his LSD inspired poem at the 1965 Wholly Communion event |
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Mick Farren | Counter culture author and antagonist |
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Nigel (Leif) Fielding | Minor player in the Operation Julie LSD conspiracy |
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David Gale | Childhood friend of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett |
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Christopher Gibb | London art dealer; friend of the Rolling Stones |
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Allen Ginsberg | American Beat poet with counter culture sympathies |
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Dave (Boss) Goodman | London LSD dealer in the Sixties |
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Eric Gow | RAF serviceman who underwent LSD test at Porton Down during the Fifties |
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Dennis Greenslade | Detective Superintendent in Operation Julie |
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Casey Hardison | American citizen sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2005 for manufacturing LSD in Lewes, Sussex |
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Lee Harris | Founder of London’s first “head” shop; editor of |
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Gerald Heard | British expatriate philosopher; gave LSD to Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson; instrumental in the development of early LSD philosophies |
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Bill Hicks | American satirist who campaigned against drug hypocrisy |
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Albert Hofmann | Chemist who discovered LSD in 1938 |
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Michael Hollingshead | Introduced Timothy Leary to LSD; mover and shaker on early London psychedelic scene |
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Maxwell Hollyhock | MOD scientist who took LSD to examine its effects |
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John (Hoppy) Hopkins | Photographer and counter culture legend; co-founder of UFO club |
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Frankie Howerd | British comedian who underwent LSD psychotherapy |
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Chris Huhne | Liberal Democrat MP |
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Roger Hutchinson | Attendee and photographic recorder of many free festivals in the Seventies |
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Aldous Huxley | Intellectual and literary polymath; probably the finest writer on psychedelic drugs and their philosophy |
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Laura Huxley | Huxley’s wife; administered LSD to Huxley as he died |
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Robert Hyde | American psychiatrist who took the first LSD trip in America |
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Mick Jagger | Singer in the Rolling Stones |
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Roy Jenkins | British Home Secretary 1965–67 |
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Peter Jenner | Manager of Pink Floyd |
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Victor Kapur | The first man to be arrested in Britain for manufacturing LSD |
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Richard Kemp | LSD chemist; pivotal in the Operation Julie LSD conspiracy |
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Andrew Kerr | Instigator of the 1971 Glastonbury Fair, forerunner to the annual Glastonbury Festival |
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Ken Kesey | American author of |
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Art Kleps | One of Timothy Leary’s disciples |
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R.D. (Ronnie) Laing | Radical psychiatrist who used LSD personally and professionally |
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Timothy Leary | American academic, responsible for promulgating LSD as a spiritual tool |
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Richard (Dick) Lee | Detective Inspector in Operation Julie |
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Donovan Leitch | Folk rock musician involved in the early London LSD scene |
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Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon | Film maker and friend of Syd Barrett |
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Tim Lott | Author and journalist |
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Christopher Mayhew | British politician who took Mescaline as part of a 1955 televised experiment |
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Paul McCartney | The first member of the Beatles to publicly admit to taking LSD |
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Joey Mellen | Early London LSD facilitator, critical of Hollingshead’s methods |
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Pete Mellor | Grass roots hippie with considerable experience of LSD |
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Ralph Metzner | American psychologist who participated in early LSD experiments at Harvard with Timothy Leary |
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John Michell | Author, researcher and philosopher; introduced many of the “mystical” ideas about Britain |
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Barry Miles | Author and chronicler of the Sixties |
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Monkey | Free festival attendee, LSD dealer and observer of the transition from free festivals to rave culture |
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Andy Munro | The chemist in the London part of the Operation Julie conspiracy |
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Simon Napier-Bell | Record producer |
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Jim Narg | First British person to mention LSD in song |
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Harry Nathan | Distributor of LSD for Victor Kapur |
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Desmond O’Brien | One of the backers behind Michael Hollingshead’s World Psychedelic Centre |
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Humphrey Osmond | British psychiatrist who invented the word psychedelic |
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Anita Pallenberg | Actress and Rolling Stones’ femme fatale |
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Clive Palmer | First person in Scotland to be charged with possession of LSD |
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Hugh Park | Judge at the main Operation Julie conspiracy trials |
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Paul Guest | Britain’s leading Blotter art collector, expert and retailer |
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Norman Pilcher | British police officer who achieved notoriety by arresting pop stars for drugs; later convicted for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice |
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Sid Rawle | Early hippie, squatting veteran and free festival organiser |
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Max Rinkel | American psychiatrist who brought LSD to America in1949 |