We meet Jenny Fabian, author of 1969’s ‘Groupie’ - one of the most infamous books of British counterculture, a scandalous diary detailing the life of self-confessed groupie ‘Katie' as she immerses herself in the heady days of swinging sixties London.

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SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK N ROLL IN SIXTIES LONDON

GROUPIE

‘America’s leading scholar of High Strangeness’, Dr. Erik Davies, comes into the Bureau to talk about his new book 'High Weirdness’
We hear about Erik’s career charting the highs and lows of counterculture, esoterica and psychedelia in America and meet three of the most influential radical psychedelic characters of 1970s - the writers / thinkers / lunatics Philip K Dick, Terence McKenna and Robert Anton Wilson.

PSYCHEDELIC VISIONS IN 1970S AMERICA

HIGH WEIRDNESS

We tell the story of the music lovers and bootleggers who defied the Soviet censor for the sake of the music they loved.

THE STRANGE STORY OF SOVIET MUSIC ON THE BONE

X-RAY AUDIO

We discuss the history, culture and technology of the coin operated machines that allowed ordinary people to make a record of themselves in the West - and, in adapted bootlegged form, to create records of forbidden music in the Soviet Union - all long before the advent of tape or digital recording.

WITH ORAL HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER ALAN DEIN 

THE SELF MADE RECORD

We are joined by writer Barry Cain, editor of the massively influential 1980s Flexi Pop magazine, and collector DJ Food, creator of the extraordinary online Flexhibition, to explore the wonderful, wonky world of the flexi disc.

WITH BARRY CAIN AND COLLECTOR DJ FOOD 

THE FLEXI DISC

We hear extraordinary examples from the 1960s - 1980s, the Golden Age of the vinyl bootleg, when record companies fought a losing battle, often against fans, to control just what of their artists output could be listened to.

WITH TRAVIS ELBOROUGH

THE VINYL BOOTLEG

We are joined by afficionados Jason Reid and Joe Dimnot to talk about the ways musicians in exile have gone on to create some of their best work and to influence the culture of the countries that provide them shelter from persecution.

 WITH JASON REID AND JOE DIMNOT

MUSIC IN EXILE

Barry tells of his London journey from a Kings Cross council estate, selling pets on Chapel Market to touring the US with the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the greatest bands of the punk generation.

WITH BARRY CAIN

1977 YEAR OF PUNK

This Episode explores three stories of cold war era radio in the USSR: Soviet Radio Jammers, the Russian ‘Woodpecker’ and the Soviet Radio Hooligans.

WITH RUSSIAN BROADCASTER VLADIMIR RAEVSKY

THE INVISIBLE BATTLE OF THE COLDWAR AIRWAVES

We hear about the extraordinary musician Sergey Kuryokhin, ‘the Soviet Punk Frank Zappa’, who with his underground cohorts in Leningrad tried to soundtrack perestroika.

Olivia tells of the strange circumstances of the making of the BBC TV series Comrades during the twilight of the Soviet Empire, with tales of tapes smuggled in diplomatic bags and a bizarre intervention by Ronald Reagan.

WITH FILM DIRECTOR OLIVIA LITCHENSTEIN AND BBC RUSSIAN ARTS PRESENTER ALEXANDER KAN

COMRADES AND THE

SOVIET FRANK ZAPPA

We meet radical doctor Sam Hutt who ministered to countercultural London in the 1960s and 1970s.

We also meet, the deeply sincere Hank Wangford, English Country and Western singer par excellence.

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WITH HANK WANGFORD

DRUGS, DOCTORS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL

Peter Watts joins us to talk about The UFO Club, the massively influential short-lived London club of the late 1960s established by Joe Boyd and John "Hoppy” Hopkins.

It featured light shows, poetry readings, avant-garde art by Yoko Ono and many rock acts (Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Procul Harem) who later became massive.

WITH PETER WATTS

PSYCHEDELIC CENTRAL - THE UFO CLUB 1967 / 1968