Why an unhappy childhood is good for you

Many years ago I wrote a book called Dreams and Doorways, a collection of interviews with well-known people – writers, actors, politicians, sports personalities – about their childhood. I wanted to find out how their early experiences helped to turn them into the high-achieving adults they later became. And in almost every case, some kind of deprivation or anguish or obstacle was a key factor; they’d been motivated by a determination to overcome adversity.

For boxing champ Henry Cooper, it was extreme, ‘bread-and-dripping’ poverty in South London. For Olympic javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread, it was being abandoned as a baby and growing up in a loveless children’s home. Actress Susan Hampshire had suffered from crippling dyslexia, and politician Edwina Currie battled against the stifling orthodoxy of her provincial Jewish upbringing. Champion weightlifter Dave Prowse, who went on to play Darth Vader in Star Wars, was stricken with tuberculosis of the leg at the age of 13, resulting in a year’s stay in hospital followed by three years wearing a calliper.