Bureau of Lost Culture

Teddy Boys (and Teddy Girls)emerged in Britain in the early 1950s, becoming the UK's first distinct youth subculture.    Born in the aftermath of World War II, these working-class teenagers rejected post-war austerity and embraced a bold, rebellious style of dandyish suits, long drape jackets, narrow trousers, velvet collars, patterned waistcoats - and of course pomaded quiffed hair for the boys and equally sharp threads for the girls.   Musican and writer Max Decharne, author of 'Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution’, came to the Bureau to talk about the Teddys - and about Mods, Punk, the masssive influence of Bill Haley's Rock Around the Clock and of the impact the working class have had on British fashion.   The Teds became notorious in the media - associated with violence, for clashes with rival gangs and for their alleged involvement in the 1958 Notting Hill riots. But was that really the case? Or was it because, as working class upstarts they rattled the middle and upper class establishment? Embracing American rock'n'roll, they became the foundation for future youth movements, proving that teenagers could form their own cultural identity, shaping Britain’s rock and roll scene and inspiring later subcultures like the Mods and Rockers. For More on Max  For his music For more on the book  Ken Russell's wonderful images of Teddy Girls   #teddy #teddyboys #teddygirls #quiff #rock'n'roll #billhaley #rockaroundtheclock #streetstyle #youthculture

Scar-faced, ex-jailbird Frank Norman was part of the '50s and '60s Soho bohemian set and friends with Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, Dylan Thomas and other habitues of the infamous Colony Room club.   After being abandoned as a child, growing up in institutions, and working as a fairground worker, he landed in Soho, became a petty criminal and spent time in prison where he learned to paint and write.   Back in Soho on leaving jail, astonishingly he became a succesful author, writer of the smash hit cockney musical 'Fings Aint What They Used To Be’, the acclaimed prison memoir Bang to Rights, and several novels - but never painted again.   In the early '60s he penned 'Soho Night and Day', a evocative survey of the area in its seedy, cosmopolitan prime, with photographs by his pal Jeffrey Bernard (later to become the most famous alcoholic in London).   Frank's grandson, Joe Daniel, came to talk  Bureau to talk about him and about the bohemian low-life of Soho in the '50s and '60s.   If you are listening to this in early 2025, and can be in London, we have curated an exhibtion in Soho of Frank's never before shown prison paintings: See BEHIND BARS- Frank Norman’s Prison Paintings  for details   The republished wonderful Frank Norman and Jeffrey Bernard book Soho Night and Day   #soho #london #bohemian #colonyclub #colonyroom #Lucien Freud, #FrancisBacon #DylanThomas #FrankNorman #JeffreyBernard #murielbelcher #outsiderart

The Waterboys' MIKE SCOTT grew up in the '60s in Edinburgh and said: “I accepted the incredible happenings of that decade — with all its rapid evolution, colour, revelations and magic — as the normal order of things".   At the age of 4 he had his first mystical experience and remembers that from the minute he bought "Last Night in Soho" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich in 1968 he knew he had to live a life in music. In the years since he has toured the world with The Waterboys and as a solo artist, had hit records with The Whole of the Moon, This is the Sea and Fishermans Blues and has released 15 albums.   Mike has been unashamedly open about the importance of spirituality in his life - even when that has been deeply unfashionable in the mainstream culture.   Now, The Waterboys have a new record about to land. It features Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple and it's a song cycle around the life of legendary actor and countercultural polymath Dennis Hopper.   Mike came to the Bureau to talk about all of that, his time at the Findhorn Foundation, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper - and much more.  For Mike and his work, music and adventures Universal Hall   Findhorn Foundation   #thewaterboys #mikescott #brucespringsteen #findhorn #findhornfoundation #steveearle #fionaapple #ladbrokegrove #thewholeofthemoon #dennishopper

She says: ‘I was reared Catholic but got over it, was born male but got over it, stopped sleeping with boys about the time I stopped being one and am much happier than I was when I was younger'. ROZ KAVENY is a poet, a novelist, a writer of science fiction, a reviewer, a cultural critic, a literary journalist and a celebrated  activist.   She has also been a sex worker - a hustler - as she would say, and has been both celebrated and denigrated. She was born a boy in 1949, became a woman all the way back in 1982 and has led a very countercultural life indeed.   This is part of her story. It's a wild and at times shocking ride. It gives an insight into what it was like to come of age as trans in an era before even being gay was legalised in the UK.   Note: contains descriptions of sexualabuse.   #trans #transgender #rozkaveney #sexchange #genderdismorphia #gender #hustlers #gendersurgery

This morning I sat in my house, took a twenty pound note from my wallet, lit a match and set the note on fire. Why? How did I feel as I watched it burn? Was it a waste, an immoral or stupid thing to do - or was it a deeply countercultural act? Jon Harris, came to the Bureau to talk about his life - as a pornographer, as a rock 'n' roll tour manager, as a bankrupt - and, most importantly, as The High Priest of The Church of Burn. We try to understand what money is, what it might be and what burning it can mean.   We hear of Jon's own history of burning money and of the rites of The Church of Burn. Of course The KLF get a mention, as does Serge Gainsbourg and Youth of Killing Joke as we explore the history of the intentional sacrificial destruction of somethign that mainstream culture seems built around and compleltey obsessed with. The Church of Burn Jon's substack ---- I have often been asked about the music that plays during the Bureau episodes. Most of it is from two albums by The Real Tuesday Weld: 'Junskshop Melodies' (which will be released in 2025) and 'Songs For Crow' which has just been released. Detaisl HERE #money #moneyburning #cash #currency #churchofburn #daisycampbell #johnhiggs #youth #killingjoke #klf #theklf #thekfoundation #sergegainsbourg   

Simon Critchley, a Professor of Philosophy and author, delves into the often-dismissed realm of mysticism. He argues that mystical experiences can enhance our understanding of life amid a rational world. The discussion spans extraordinary historical mystics, the arts' connection to the mystical, and the influence of counterculture. Critchley playfully intertwines themes of love, drugs, and the sacred nature of music, revealing how these aspects resonate deeply with human experience. His insights challenge conventional views, inviting a fresh perspective on spirituality.

Genesis P-Orridge, a groundbreaking performance artist and co-founder of Throbbing Gristle, discusses their innovative 'cut-up technique' and transformative identity exploration through extreme body modification with director David Charles Rodrigues. They delve into the impact of 1970s counterculture and the Temple of Psychic Youth, a radical musical project focused on empowerment. The conversation addresses themes of grief, love, and the poignant final days of Genesis, revealing a deeply personal journey intertwined with creativity and societal challenges.

In the turbulent late 1970s, six-year-old Susanna Crossman moved with her mother and siblings from a suburban terrace to a crumbling mansion deep in the English countryside.   They would share their new home with over fifty other residents  - idealists from all over the world - armed with worn paperbacks on ecology, Marx and radical feminism and drawn together by utopian dreams of remaking the world.  They did not leave for fifteen years.   This was not a hippie commune or a new age retreat but a community run on radical socialist Marxist principles.  Yet, however noble the intentions of the adults, was this suitable place - a suitable home -  for a child to grow up? Susanna wrote a book to try to answer that question and came to the Bureau to tell us all about it - and about the pleasures and perils of growing up in the fallout of the Utopian Dream.   More on Susanna More on her book  Home Is Where We Start More on British Intentional Communities   #communes #counterculture #punk #radical  #utopia #alternativecommunities #intentionalcommunities #esoteric #hippie #marxist

The Joy of Sex was published in 1972 and for years, was rarely out of the bestseller lists, generating sequels, revised editions and a lot of imitators - so how could it be countercultural? For two reasons: firstly that Dr Alex Comfort who wrote it was a deeply countercultural figure, and second, because its publication represents the moment when the sexual revolution of the countercultural years of the late '50s and ‘60s, threw off its remaining clothes and dived naked into the bourgeous middle class mainstream.   And it changed a lot of peoples’ live - well their sex lives at any rate.   Social justice journalist activist and anarchist Eric Laursen, author of Polymath: The Life and Professions of Dr. Alex Comfort, came to The Bureau to tell of the poet, novelist, doctor, biologist, gerontologist, anarchist, scientific humanist, public intellectual, pacifist and activist who also happened to write the world’s most famous guide to lovemaking..   For More on Eric   For More on Polymath: The Life and Professions of Dr. Alex Comfort  #sex #sexguide #thejoyofsex #alexcomfort #thesexualrevolution #counterculture #sexmanual #sandstone

*Every society is a high society.  Getting high has been a pursuit of civilisations throughout time.   *Every day, people drink coffee in European cafes, chew betel nut in Indonesian markets, nibble coca leaf on Andean mountainsides and smoke tobacco in every nation on earth.   *Mind-altering drugs have been part of virtually every human culture that has ever existed - from prehistory to the present day. They have shaped cultures, kick-started global trade, transformed our understanding of the mind, built empires and threatened the fabric of society.   *Cultural historian and writer on the psychoactive Mike Jay returned to the Bureau to tell us why   For more on Mike and his book High Society   #drugs #drugwar #opiumwars #psychoactive #opium #heroin #mescaline #lsd #cocaine #khat #betel #psychedelics #highsociety #gettinghigh #addiction #cartels