An Item From ‘Woman’s Hour’ In 1980 - Sort Of…

Woman’s Hour, the long-running BBC Radio Four programme, has a little bit of history regarding Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. In November 1976 an edition was broadcast which eventually led to the formation of what became the M.E. Association, the UK’s second largest M.E. charity. In May 1980 a follow-up (of sorts) was broadcast, presented by the woman who presented that November 1976 edition, Sue MacGregor.

At approximately 2.25pm on the 8th May 1980 the programme featured an item called (according to the official documention) “All The Tests Are Negative……”. The reporter was Maureen Galvin and the item ran for just short of ten minutes. It appears (again according to the official documentation) that the piece was recorded in Christmas week 1979.

Below is a transcript from the item with one slight omission - we do not have the text from the interview recordings; we only have the script for the links between the interviews, hence the frequent appearance of ‘Taped insert - missing’. BBC archives are pretty extensive but not extensive enough to include everything the Corporation has ever made. There may be a recording of this edition of Woman’s Hour out there 'in the wild' but it’s fair to say that’s unlikely.

So without further ado, here’s the available text from that edition of Woman’s Hour, 8th May 1980 - the same day the World Health Organisation officially announced the eradication of smallpox.

“Three years ago Dr. Celia Wookey came along to Woman’s Hour to talk about a mysterious disease which she, and she suspected hundreds of other people suffered from: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - sometimes called the Icelandic Disease. She offered to send information to anyone else who thought they had symptoms similar to her own. Maureen Galvin has been finding  what’s happened since then to Dr. Wookey and this very peculiar condition. First we hear from Jenny Culverwell, who suffers from the illness herself.”

(Taped insert - missing)

“It is quite incredible but that is very often the reaction to people suffering from the paralytic disease called myalgic encephalomyelitis; sometimes known as Iceland disease or the royal free disease because there were epidemics in Iceland and at the Royal Free Hospital in London. It’s a strange and controversial condition that some doctors, apparently, have never heard of and others don’t believe in. In spite of the unpleasant symptoms.”

(Taped insert - missing)

“Some days Jenny Culverwell can’t even get out of the house. But up till 1974 she was teaching, coaching tennis players, running committees, and looking after a horse, a husband and two small children. Jenny‘s doctors were sympathetic but they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She felt very ill but all her tests were negative. And it wasn’t till she heard a broadcast on woman’s hour in 1977 describing similar symptoms that she found a name for her illness. The broadcast was made by Dr Celia Wookey who suffered from myalgic encephalomyelitis for nearly 17 years.”

(Taped insert - missing)

“Dr. Wookey was trying to make contact with other people suffering from the same disease. And she offered to send a questionnaire to anyone who recognised their symptoms. And the response was amazing.”

(Taped insert - missing)

“In the next two years a patient association was formed with several groups around the country. And there is still a growing membership. Jenny Culverwell was one of those 258 possible sufferers and she’s now on the committee of her local group.”

(Taped insert - missing)

“Particularly as a diagnosis of depression or anxiety isn’t sufficient for a housebound patient to get a mobility allowance. The problem for GPs is M.E. cannot be diagnosed positively. There aren’t any tests and the symptoms vary so much from person to person and even from day to day that it’s extremely difficult to recognise. Unless there’s an epidemic as there was in 1955 at the Royal Free Hospital in North London. Over 70 members of staff were affected and the hospital had to close down and from time to time similar epidemics have been reported from all over the world. But even in these cases medical opinion is divided between those who think an unknown virus may be responsible and those who believe the illness is hysterical. Either way there’s no treatment and little in the way of helpful advice. Some people just get better and others continue to relapse.”

(Taped insert - missing)

“The association is now planning to raise money for research. And some of the more active members have taken parts already in a small research project in Glasgow. And though it’s too soon to raise hopes there is evidence of some abnormality in their blood. It’s not a diagnosis yet and it’s certainly not a cure but this could be what many sufferers have longed for……positive proof that the illness isn’t ‘all in the imagination’ one member whose had the disease for twenty five years was prompted to tape record her reactions.”

The edition of Woman’s Hour that is said to have taken place in 1977 is probably the edition on 23rd November 1976 with Dr. Celia Wookey (whose father was attending some of the meetings at the RFH in the mid-fifties so would have been all too aware of the Royal Free outbreak of 1955). There is a piece by Neville Hodgkinson in the Daily Mail in 1978 which refers to a Woman’s Hour broadcast on M.E. “last year” but, again, this may be erroneous - unless there is a 1977 broadcast of which we are unaware.