In Search of Smiles by Andy Roberts: Alston Hughes aka Smiles and Britain’s late 20th century counterculture LSD network

In Search of Smiles tracks Alston Hughes, nicknamed Smiles, through Britain’s counterculture and illicit drug networks in the late twentieth century. The biography centers on Hughes’ role in the Microdot Gang conspiracy, including claims that he shifted millions of doses of LSD before being arrested in 1977. It frames the arrest through Operation Julie, presented as a major police investigation into the largest LSD manufacturing and distribution operation of its kind at the time. Based on a series of interviews, the book follows a life story from postwar Manchester to free festivals, hashish smuggling, and travel in South Asia, linking personal relationships and community in Llanddewi Brefi to the wider “cat and mouse” confrontation with authorities.