Authors: Andy Roberts
A popular history of LSD in Britain
Andy Roberts
Copyright © 2012 Andy Roberts
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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.
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 |