Albion Dreaming Read online

  Albion Dreaming

  A popular history of LSD in Britain

  Andy Roberts

  Copyright © 2012 Andy Roberts

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  Published in 2012 by Marshall Cavendish Editions

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  The right of Andy Roberts to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the publisher.

  The author and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing this book and disclaim liability arising directly and indirectly from the use and application of this book.

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  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

  eISBN 978 981 4328 97 5

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Limited, Padstow, Cornwall

  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.

  CONTENTS

  Dramatis Personae

  List of Illustrations

  Glossary

  Foreword by Dr Sue Blackmore

  1. Turn on, Tune in, Drop out

  2. Hofmann’s Potion

  3. LSD: The Cure of Souls?

  4. LSD: A Cure for the Common Cold?

  5. The Joyous Cosmology

  6. The Foggy Ruins of Time

  7. Strangely Strange, but Oddly Normal

  8. Senses Working Overtime

  9. All You Need is Love?

  10. Bring What You Expect to Find

  11. The Mind Alchemists

  12. Coming Down Again

  13. Revolution in the Head

  Thanks!

  Contact

  Permissions

  References

  Bibliography

  Index

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  Steve Abrams

  American parapsychologist who was at the heart of London’s LSD counter culture

  Jonathan Aitken

  Journalist who took LSD, when still legal, for the Evening Standard; subsequently a disgraced Conservative MP

  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

  George Andrews

  Poet and author of books on drugs

  Paul Arnabaldi

  Backer of Richard Kemp’s Welsh LSD laboratory

  Nigel Ayres

  Attendee and recorder of many free festivals of the Seventies

  Syd Barrett

  Original Pink Floyd lead guitarist; LSD contributed to his descent into mental illness

  Brian Barritt

  Early LSD dealer in London; friend of Timothy Leary

  Cecil Beaton

  English fashion and portrait photographer

  John Beresford

  Paediatrician friend of Michael Hollinsghead

  Christine Bott

  Involved in Operation Julie conspiracy; common law wife of Richard Kemp

  Joe Boyd

  American record producer and co-founder of UFO club

  Tara Browne

  London socialite whose death possibly inspired the Beatles’ Day in the Life

  Richard Brunstrom

  Chief Constable of North Wales; believes all drugs should be legalised and regulated

  Julia Callan-Thompson

  Occasional hippie prostitute; involved with the Kapur LSD conspiracy

  Ernest Chain

  Nobel winning biochemist who appeared for the defence in a 1967 LSD trial

  Derek Channon

  Naval rating who underwent LSD experiment at Porton Down in 1953

  Harry Collumbine

  Porton Down scientist

  Sean Connery

  James Bond actor who used LSD in psychotherapy

  Julian Cope

  Musician with a predilection for LSD

  Francis Crick

  Discovered DNA

  Dave Cunliffe

  LSD courier in late Fifties London

  Paul Devereux

  Author and researcher into prehistoric use of psychedelic drugs

  Jeff Dexter

  Legendary DJ at UFO club and 1971 Glastonbury Fair

  Johnny Dolphin

  American poet who spent time with Terry Taylor in Morocco

  Bill (Ubi) Dwyer

  LSD dealer in Australia and London; instigator behind the Windsor Free Festivals

  Joel Elkes

  Founder of Birmingham University’s Department of Experimental Psychology; early LSD experimenter; linked to MOD LSD experiments

  John Esam

  London LSD dealer in the early Sixties

  Harry Fainlight

  Poet who read his LSD inspired poem at the 1965 Wholly Communion event

  Mick Farren

  Counter culture author and antagonist

  Nigel (Leif) Fielding

  Minor player in the Operation Julie LSD conspiracy

  David Gale

  Childhood friend of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett

  Christopher Gibb

  London art dealer; friend of the Rolling Stones

  Allen Ginsberg

  American Beat poet with counter culture sympathies

  Dave (Boss) Goodman

  London LSD dealer in the Sixties

  Eric Gow

  RAF serviceman who underwent LSD test at Porton Down during the Fifties

  Dennis Greenslade

  Detective Superintendent in Operation Julie

  Casey Hardison

  American citizen sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2005 for manufacturing LSD in Lewes, Sussex

  Lee Harris

  Founder of London’s first “head” shop; editor of Home Grown, Britain’s first counter culture drug magazine

  Gerald Heard

  British expatriate philosopher; gave LSD to Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson; instrumental in the development of early LSD philosophies

  Bill Hicks

  American satirist who campaigned against drug hypocrisy

  Albert Hofmann

  Chemist who discovered LSD in 1938

  Michael Hollingshead

  Introduced Timothy Leary to LSD; mover and shaker on early London psychedelic scene

  Maxwell Hollyhockr />
  MOD scientist who took LSD to examine its effects

  John (Hoppy) Hopkins

  Photographer and counter culture legend; co-founder of UFO club

  Frankie Howerd

  British comedian who underwent LSD psychotherapy

  Chris Huhne

  Liberal Democrat MP

  Roger Hutchinson

  Attendee and photographic recorder of many free festivals in the Seventies

  Aldous Huxley

  Intellectual and literary polymath; probably the finest writer on psychedelic drugs and their philosophy

  Laura Huxley

  Huxley’s wife; administered LSD to Huxley as he died

  Robert Hyde

  American psychiatrist who took the first LSD trip in America

  Mick Jagger

  Singer in the Rolling Stones

  Roy Jenkins

  British Home Secretary 1965–67

  Peter Jenner

  Manager of Pink Floyd

  Victor Kapur

  The first man to be arrested in Britain for manufacturing LSD

  Richard Kemp

  LSD chemist; pivotal in the Operation Julie LSD conspiracy

  Andrew Kerr

  Instigator of the 1971 Glastonbury Fair, forerunner to the annual Glastonbury Festival

  Ken Kesey

  American author of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest; advocate of unstructured LSD use

  Art Kleps

  One of Timothy Leary’s disciples

  R.D. (Ronnie) Laing

  Radical psychiatrist who used LSD personally and professionally

  Timothy Leary

  American academic, responsible for promulgating LSD as a spiritual tool

  Richard (Dick) Lee

  Detective Inspector in Operation Julie

  Donovan Leitch

  Folk rock musician involved in the early London LSD scene

  Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon

  Film maker and friend of Syd Barrett

  Tim Lott

  Author and journalist

  Christopher Mayhew

  British politician who took Mescaline as part of a 1955 televised experiment

  Paul McCartney

  The first member of the Beatles to publicly admit to taking LSD

  Joey Mellen

  Early London LSD facilitator, critical of Hollingshead’s methods

  Pete Mellor

  Grass roots hippie with considerable experience of LSD

  Ralph Metzner

  American psychologist who participated in early LSD experiments at Harvard with Timothy Leary

  John Michell

  Author, researcher and philosopher; introduced many of the “mystical” ideas about Britain

  Barry Miles

  Author and chronicler of the Sixties

  Monkey

  Free festival attendee, LSD dealer and observer of the transition from free festivals to rave culture

  Andy Munro

  The chemist in the London part of the Operation Julie conspiracy

  Simon Napier-Bell

  Record producer

  Jim Narg

  First British person to mention LSD in song

  Harry Nathan

  Distributor of LSD for Victor Kapur

  Desmond O’Brien

  One of the backers behind Michael Hollingshead’s World Psychedelic Centre

  Humphrey Osmond

  British psychiatrist who invented the word psychedelic

  Anita Pallenberg

  Actress and Rolling Stones’ femme fatale

  Clive Palmer

  First person in Scotland to be charged with possession of LSD

  Hugh Park

  Judge at the main Operation Julie conspiracy trials

  Paul Guest

  Britain’s leading Blotter art collector, expert and retailer

  Norman Pilcher

  British police officer who achieved notoriety by arresting pop stars for drugs; later convicted for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

  Sid Rawle

  Early hippie, squatting veteran and free festival organiser

  Max Rinkel

  American psychiatrist who brought LSD to America in1949

  Philip (Wally Hope) Russell

  Charismatic hippie and LSD advocate who founded the Stonehenge Free Festivals

  Greg Sams

  American who, with brother Craig, was instrumental in setting up macrobiotic and whole food restaurants in Sixties London

  Ronnie Sandison

  Britain’s first LSD psychotherapist

  David Schneiderman

  Enigmatic LSD dealer, briefly a member of the Rolling Stones’ entourage

  Ben Sessa

  Contemporary British psychiatrist who believes there is a place for LSD in psychotherapy

  Peter Simmons

  Set up several LSD laboratories in the late Sixties

  Ian Sinclair

  London based author and psychogeographer, chronicler of Ginsberg’s 1967 visit

  David Solomon

  American writer on drug issues; later became involved with the Operation Julie LSD conspiracy

  Henry (Bing) Spear

  Chief Inspector of the Dangerous Drugs Branch of the Home Office 1952–1986

  Augustus (Bear) Owsley Stanley III

  Legendary Californian LSD chemist

  Ronald Stark

  Enigmatic international LSD dealer; connected to international terrorism; suspected of working for various intelligence agencies

  Arthur Stoll

  Co-worker of Albert Hofmann

  Terry Taylor

  Beatnik author who went on to be an LSD dealer and to found LSD based magic cult in London

  Vince Taylor

  British rock and roll singer; Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust was based on Taylor

  Henry Todd

  Key player in the Operation Julie LSD conspiracy

  Dave Tomlin

  Jazz musician and author; foot soldier of the psychedelic revolution

  Alexander Trocchi

  Poet and writer; dealt LSD in London during the Sixties

  Alan Watts

  British expatriate mystic and philosopher with an interest in psychedelic drugs; part of the scene around Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard

  Don Webb

  Airman who took part in LSD experiment at Porton Down during the 1950s

  Bernadette Whybrow

  Occasional hippie prostitute and LSD dealer in the Kapur LSD conspiracy

  Peter Wright

  Former member of MI5; author of the controversial book Spycatcher

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  1. God is alive in a sugar cube badge

  2. Dr. Ronald Sandison

  3. Powick Hospital, 1955

  4 and 5. Drawings by Maxwell Hollyhock

  6. Turn on, tune in, drop out badge

  7. LSD: better living through chemistry badge

  8. Michael Hollingshead’s Christmas card, 1965

  9. Timothy Leary

  10. UFO club advertisement

  11. Victor Kapur’s LSD laboratory, London, 1967

  12. Michael Hollingshead, Nepal, 1969

  13. LSD party, London

  14. Granny Takes a Trip, London boutique

  15. Allen Ginsberg, Wales, 1967

  16. Publicity flyer for The Trip