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Views | Duration | ||
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1. My paradoxical mother | 7 | 3228 | 01:15 |
2. The old Devonian sandstone house I was born in | 1578 | 01:03 | |
3. One of my first memories is of a ceiling | 1164 | 01:06 | |
4. The bedroom that was always mine | 985 | 00:30 | |
5. Needing my mother's kisses | 1069 | 00:33 | |
6. Already prone to fantasy by the age of five | 1 | 977 | 00:56 |
7. My 6-year-old feelings took a beating | 999 | 03:43 | |
8. The Jewish Fresh Air School for Delicate Children | 993 | 00:57 | |
9. Being caned at boarding school left its mark on me | 1907 | 01:15 | |
10. A childhood friend | 926 | 00:31 |
During my four years at boarding school, I saw rather little of my parents. I didn’t... and on school holidays I would usually go to an aunt who lived in Cheshire and who herself founded a school in Delamere Forest. It was... it was called the JFAS, the Jewish Fresh Air School for Delicate Children. ‘Delicate’ at that time could mean anything from... I don’t... from autism to asthma, although I think autism had not been characterised at the time. I often wished I could’ve been a pupil at my aunt’s school, but I think my parents were afraid of favouritism or perhaps it would’ve been too difficult generally.
Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) was born in England. Having obtained his medical degree at Oxford University, he moved to the USA. There he worked as a consultant neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital where in 1966, he encountered a group of survivors of the global sleepy sickness of 1916-1927. Sacks treated these patients with the then-experimental drug L-Dopa producing astounding results which he described in his book Awakenings. Further cases of neurological disorders were described by Sacks with exceptional sympathy in another major book entitled The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat which became an instant best seller on its publication in 1985. His other books drew on his rich experiences as a neurologist gleaned over almost five decades of professional practice. Sacks's work was recognized by prestigious institutions which awarded him numerous honours and prizes. These included the Lewis Thomas Prize given by Rockefeller University, which recognizes the scientist as poet. He was an honorary fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and held honorary degrees from many universities, including Oxford, the Karolinska Institute, Georgetown, Bard, Gallaudet, Tufts, and the Catholic University of Peru.
Title: The Jewish Fresh Air School for Delicate Children
Listeners: Kate Edgar
Kate Edgar, previously Managing Editor at the Summit Books division of Simon and Schuster, began working with Oliver Sacks in 1983. She has served as editor and researcher on all of his books, and has been closely involved with various films and adaptations based on his work. As friend, assistant, and collaborator, she has accompanied Dr Sacks on many adventures around the world, clinical and otherwise.
Tags: Cheshire, Jewish Fresh Air Home And School
Duration: 57 seconds
Date story recorded: 19-23 September, 2011
Date story went live: 02 October 2012