..., followed by the Presenter inviting the audience to talk directly to the keycharacters
involved, in role.

Here is a transcript of one caller to Southern Counties Radio, Friday 5th October 2007;

Neil Pringle, Presenter We’ve charted Legsy’s young life, and so much has happened to him,
and I suppose the question about the future we’re asking is: with that kind of past, is it possible to
be optimistic about the future? We’ve got a caller who’s had a difficult upbringing, but things have
gone well for you, yes?

Caller Yes, I’d say that, but it’s taken a very long time; I went into institutions at 8 weeks old and
basically spent the rest of my life up to my mid 40s in prisons, because the institutions were very
much like the children’s homes. I’d really like to say to Legsy best of luck for the future.

Legsy Thank you.

Caller And it’s great you’ve got support round you like Donna. Because my experience as a kid was I didn’t really know who I was, I didn’t have any clue about values - I stole, because I didn’t value anything that other people had, because I didn’t have anything of value myself. And people would tell me all the time what you’re doing is wrong, and yes I’d hear the words but because of the painful experiences of childhood I’d built walls around me that were too high for me to get out and too thick for people to get in. But what you’ve done with Legsy is brilliant because William James* said that ‘we know people best when we understand their stories’, and if you look into every person who’s classed as a criminal – well not everyone but the majority who are these 86% recidivists who keep going back to prison - they don’t understand their own stories, their own lives.

Neil Pringle If you had one piece of advice for Legsy now, what would it be?

Caller It sounds like a cliché, but very often when you’re developing you’re going to take two steps back and one step forward. And you’re going to have to make mistakes.

Legsy Yeah

Caller People will give you lots of advice, and very often I found myself saying ‘yes’ but not really believing or accepting what they were saying. My advice is to understand your own story, and the people who play a part in that story.
And I hope some time in the future although you made a decision to distance yourself from a member of your family, as you grow stronger, you’ll be strong enough to reconnect with your brother – to have the relationship with your brother you really want.

* William James (1842 – 1910) American psychologist and philosopher, known for his
Principles of Psychology, 1890