Nicholas Albery

Nicholas Bronson Albery (28 July 1948 – 3 June 2001) was a British social inventor and author, was the instigator or coordinator of a variety of projects aimed at an improvement to society, often known as the alternative society.

Early life and education Albery was born at Bricket House, St Albans, Hertfordshire, son of the theatre impresario Sir Donald Albery (son of Sir Bronson Albery, also a theatre impresario) and his second wife, Cicely, daughter of Army officer Reginald Harvey Henderson Boys.

While a student at St John's College, Oxford, Albery became involved with psychedelic and spiritual movements in San Francisco, California, and dropped out of college. After a period in Haight Ashbury, he returned to the UK and joined the anti-university in London.

Frestonia Albery was a Minister for the Free State of Frestonia in North Kensington and a Green Party candidate in Notting Hill.

Social innovations' activist In 1985, out of BIT Information Service, Albery founded the Institute for Social Inventions. 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. The Institute included Edward de Bono, Anita Roddick and Fay Weldon among its patrons.

Saturday Walkers' Club Albery founded the self-organising Saturday Walkers' Club in the mid-1990s.

Personal life and death Albery was married to psychotherapist Josefine Speyer. He died age 52 in a car accident, on 3 June 2001. His brother is stage director Tim Albery.