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Identity
Ronald Leedham: Shame
Ronald Leedham was born in 1929 in India. His family moved back to England in 1931after Ronald contracted Polio. Ronald spent some years in Hospital as a young child after contracting Diptheria. When he was six he returned home to Catford for a short while to live with his father, eventually ending up living in ‘homes for crippled children’ run by the Shaftesbury Society, until he was sixteen.
More from
Ronald Leedham
- Buzz Bombs and Doodlebugs
- Greyness
- Beatings
- Cricket at Sevenoaks
- Oliver Twist
- No talking
- Certificates
- Incendiaries in the park
- Mum
- Visits
- The Glow over London
- Sheltering in the Church
- Explosives
- Awful Sundays
- War starts
- The Walk to Church on Sunday
- ‘Mummy coming’
- Difficult subject
- A Miserable Time
- Geography
- I Knew Nothing About Life
- Dogfight
- Shut Away and Tipped Out
- Shelter
- Suitcases
- Parlour Songs
- Home
- Oliver Twist and donk
- Visiting every six weeks
- Boys and girls together
- Lead Soldiers
Here Ron describes his sense of self-identity as a young person.
https://howwasschool.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/shame.mp3
Transcript
I can remember those days and you felt – you felt shameful and I’m now very conscious of the fact that I have to wear a calliper with a surgical boot if – if I see somebody else coming along and they’re wearing a calliper I nip into a doorway in the street. I’m sorry. You get very, very – it’s a weird thing, you never really get used to – you are different. You are different.Explore more
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