Wednesday 14 November 2012

Hats Off! - Polly Mortimer


Hats off to the late Princess Alice, mother of Prince Philip. She managed to recover from harrowing war work in World War 1 on the front line, a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, 2.5 yrs in an isolated German clinic, separation from her children and bravely she harboured an escaping Greek Jewish family in WW2 .

And more hats off to Patrick Stewart the actor who fronted an extraordinary episode of Who do you think you are? He had suffered extremely as a child and adult from witnessing extreme domestic violence meted out on his mother by his father, returned from WW2.  He pieced together his father’s war, spent at places where extreme events happened – such as Arnhem. 

image: primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk


He then visited Combat Stress, the brilliant charity for those who declare with war trauma ( PTSD ) - thousands more never reach CS. Finally he could start to understand, but never condone,  the rage and intolerable behavior of his father as rooted in his horrific experiences.

No comments:

Post a Comment