I have had an interest in World War II Dorset, war trauma and therapy with horses, alternative approaches.

In my later life – I worked as a therapist – moved into focusing on dissociation, trauma etc.

See website: www.johnjolliffe.co.uk

RD Laing – Mad to Be Normal – influenced by experiences of ‘Army Psychiatry’

THIS RADICAL FILM THAT I BACKED starring DAVID TENANT – although I provided a major investment – was not ‘business for profit’. IT WAS A CAUSE. In fact it was a loss-making investment for myself, as to this present time. It was to back this film about a very major 1960s project – that experimented with alternatives to the 1960s understanding of ‘psychiatric problems and treatment’. I was fully familiar with this project – even though it was before my time – and later became acquainted with the principal figure R D LAING – who was played by DAVID TENANT spectacularly well. DAVID TENANT put on a remarkably good performance of the character that he played – and that I had later known in the 1980s. I had read about R D Laing’s five years experiment at Kingsley Hall when I was 17 years old – and followed his writings thereafter – and was fascinated with his alternative and radically open-minded approach. R D Laing in his early years was an ARMY PSYCHIATRIST – but from there on developed radical approaches – inspiring and informing the later alternatives that developed from the 1960s onwards.

One article that I wrote – was a short article on RD Laing on the last of his Tuesday groups.

Researching World War II Dorset

In the last few years – I have been researching World War II Dorset. I have collated a large amount of information – but I’m still looking for more – some things are of course unique – and may be lost for ever – but there is still time to have this acknowledged – where some people have memories from their childhood. In other cases – the children or other relatives of those who had these direct experiences – will be able to relate what they had been told.