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Bureau of Lost Culture

Bureau of Lost Culture

By: Stephen Coates
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*The Bureau of Lost Culture broadcast rare, countercultural stories, oral testimonies and tales from the underground.

*Join host Stephen Coates and a wide range of guests, including musicians, artists, writers, activists and commentators in conversation.

Support us on Patreon

*Listen via all major podcast providers.

The Bureau is collected at The British Library Sound Archive

Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. Art Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Free Radicals - Tripping in the 18th Century.

    Free Radicals - Tripping in the 18th Century.
    Jun 10 2026

    In the company of historian of drugs, MIKE JAY, we journey back to the first psychedelic age - not the 1960s, but the 1790s, when Britain was at the forefront, at the frontier, of gonzo psychedelic science.

    We explore the world of the 'Pneumatic Institution' in Bristol, a community of scientists, poets, philosophers, and industrial entrepreneurs who formed a kind of proto-counterculture led by the extraordinary talents of polymath Thomas Beddoes and the boy genius Humphry Davy.

    We hear about Davy's use of nitrous oxide - laughing gas - and the self-experiments and consciousness-expanding trips he and his friends experienced as a gateway to radical societal ideas and revolutionary thought, laying the groundwork for later countercultures and today's psychedelic renaissance.

    More on Mike and his book Free Radicals: How a Group of Romantic Experimenters Gave Birth to Psychedelic Science.

    --- If you can contribute to this crazy endeavour, join our Patreon HERE Thank you to everyone who’s signed up to support the show —that means a lot. We have chosen not to carry ads here; it simply wouldn’t sit right with the spirit of the Bureau. But that does mean we can benefit from your support, in whatever form that takes, not just financial. Stephen

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    56 mins
  • The Shadow of the Counterculture

    The Shadow of the Counterculture
    May 24 2026

    Ever thought the so-called ‘golden decade’ of the 1960s was only about peace and love? Think again. Beneath the surface, it was riddled with violence, paranoia, and chaos, even in its most iconic moments.

    So says James Riley, a writer whose work explores the darker edges of late-1960s and 1970s counterculture. His 'The Bad Trip' is an acclaimed study of apocalypse, occultism, paranoia and the collapse of the hippie dream at the end of the 1960s.

    We examine the romanticised narrative of peace, love, and idealism, revealing how beneath the surface lurked a shadow of violence, paranoia, and societal fractures. How figures like Charles Manson emerged not as aberrations, but as products and archetypes of the era. We talk Jung, LSD, The Trickster archetype, Manson, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the committee for The Summer of Love, to see how the darkness beneath the light reveals more about human nature than the utopian stories we often tell, and how it was the inspiration for some truly great art. For the list of countercultural films we discuss - and more - go HERE --- If you can contribute to this crazy endeavour, join our Patreon HERE Thank you to everyone who’s signed up to support the show —that means a lot. We have chosen not to carry ads here; it simply wouldn’t sit right with the spirit of the Bureau. But that does mean we can benefit from your support, in whatever form that takes, not just financial. Stephen #Counterculture #1960sRevolution #DarkSideOfThe60s #CulturalLegacy #PsychedelicEra #MansonMyth #Altamont #AquarianAge #ShadowAndLight #CulturalHistory
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    1 hr
  • The Revolutionsts: How The Counterculture Turned to Terror

    The Revolutionsts: How The Counterculture Turned to Terror
    May 6 2026

    The Weather Underground, The Baader-Meinhof Group, The Red Brigade, Carlos the Jackal, The Japanese Red Army.

    The counterculture has always had a shadow side. There have been bad actors, casualties, the needle and the damage done - and in this episode, we dive into the world of revolutionary and political violence, exploring how radical groups emerged from countercultural movements and evolved into what my guest Jason Burke describes as Revolutionists Jason is an award-winning British author and journalist, currently serving as the International Security Correspondent for The Guardian. He is widely regarded as one of the preeminent experts on modern radicalisation, terrorism, and global security, reporting from hotspots around the world. His latest book, The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s, is an extraordinary sweeping history of the period 1968–1979, a decade defined by a global explosion of secular, leftist political violence. The Revolutionists were the orphans of the 1960s, young people who grew up in a 1950s existential vacuum of consumerism and a 1960s idealistic overload. When the student protests of 1968 failed to topple the global order, a radicalised minority concluded that the "System" was too resilient for peaceful protest. Violence and spectacle in a 'theatre of terror' might be the answer. It's an incredible story - and links the counterculture, through 9/11 with events taking place in the Middle East right now. --- If you’d like to get involved and contribute to this crazy endeavour, join our Patreon HERE Thank you to everyone who’s signed up to support the show —that means a lot. We have chosen not to carry ads here; it simply wouldn’t sit right with the spirit of the Bureau. But that does mean we can benefit from your support, in whatever form that takes, not just financial. Stephen #counterculture #terrorist #terrorism #revolution #revolutionists #TheWeatherUnderground, #TheBaader-MeinhofGroup, #TheRedBrigade, #TheJapaneseRedArmy #Baader-Meinhof #carlosthejackal

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    53 mins
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