Nicholas Albery
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Albery social inventor and author, was the founder or leader of various projects related to the improvement of society, often known as the Alternative Society.
While a student at St John's College, Oxford, he became involved with psychedelic and spiritual movements in San Francisco, dropped out of college and joined the anti-university in London. After a period in Haight Ashbury he returned to the UK and became involved with the newly started BIT
Information Service quickly becoming a driving force in the development of wider activities for BIT so that it became a Social centre.
In the aftermath of a violent attack by police on the Windsor Free Festival
in 1974 - Nick, playwright Heathcote Williams
and his partner Diana Senior successfully sued David Holdsworth, the Thames Valley
Chief Constable for creating a riotous situation in which the police attacked the plaintiffs.
Nicholas was a Minister for the Free State of Frestonia
in North Kensington
and a Green Party candidate in Notting Hill
.
The Global Ideas Bank
- From small beginnings (a network of inventors, a quarterly newsletter), the Institute grew into a full-fledged organisation under his leadership: producing an annual compendium, running social inventions workshops and promoting creative solutions around the world.
Nicholas founded the self-organising Saturday Walkers' Club in the mid-1990s.
While a student at St John's College, Oxford, he became involved with psychedelic and spiritual movements in San Francisco, dropped out of college and joined the anti-university in London. After a period in Haight Ashbury he returned to the UK and became involved with the newly started BIT
BIT
BIT was an information service, publisher, travel guide and social centre founded, in 1968, by John 'Hoppy' Hopkins. It pre-dated the internet as a free service that would try to find any information asked for and derived its name from the smallest unit of computer information.-BIT:BIT was...
Information Service quickly becoming a driving force in the development of wider activities for BIT so that it became a Social centre.
In the aftermath of a violent attack by police on the Windsor Free Festival
Windsor Free Festival
The Windsor Free Festival was a British Free Festival held in Windsor Great Park from 1972 to 1974. Organised by some London commune dwellers, notably Ubi Dwyer and Sid Rawle, it was in many ways the forerunner of the Stonehenge Free Festival, particularly in the brutality of its final suppression...
in 1974 - Nick, playwright Heathcote Williams
Heathcote Williams
Heathcote Williams is an English poet, actor and award-winning playwright. He is also an intermittent painter, sculptor and long-time conjuror...
and his partner Diana Senior successfully sued David Holdsworth, the Thames Valley
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
Chief Constable for creating a riotous situation in which the police attacked the plaintiffs.
Nicholas was a Minister for the Free State of Frestonia
Frestonia
Frestonia was the name adopted by the residents of Freston Road, a street at the north western boundary of Notting Hill, London, also known as Notting Dale, when they attempted to secede from the United Kingdom in 1977. Actor David Rappaport was the Foreign Minister, while playwright Heathcote...
in North Kensington
North Kensington
North Kensington is an area of west London lying north of Notting Hill Gate and south of Harrow Road.North Kensington is the key neighbourhood of Notting Hill...
and a Green Party candidate in Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
.
The Global Ideas Bank
Global Ideas Bank
The Global Ideas Banks origins lie in the Institute for Social Inventions, which was set up in 1985 by Nicholas Albery, social inventor and visionary...
- From small beginnings (a network of inventors, a quarterly newsletter), the Institute grew into a full-fledged organisation under his leadership: producing an annual compendium, running social inventions workshops and promoting creative solutions around the world.
Nicholas founded the self-organising Saturday Walkers' Club in the mid-1990s.
External links
Literature
- Beam, Alan (1976) "Rehearsal for the year 2000: (drugs, religions, madness, crime, communes, love, visions, festivals and lunar energy) : the rebirth of Albion Free State (known in the Dark Ages as England) : memoirs of a male midwife (1966-1976)" - an account of the early years of BIT with most names changed to protect the innocent.