Ed Opperman’s guest today is Lynn Crook. False memory syndrome is a go-to diagnosis for memories which, when recovered, seem to have no corroborating evidence. There’s a whole world of research into False Memory Syndrome, the causes and effects of ‘remembering’ things which never happened. But the syndrome has also become a useful tool in discrediting those whose recollections are clear enough, yet lack substantive evidence.

From Her Amazon;

When states allowed adults who were molested as children to sue for damages, accused parents went on the offense. The parents claimed the accusations were false memories implanted by therapists. The parents established a non-profit and invested millions in a PR campaign to promote themselves as falsely accused, and to dismiss crimes committed against children as false memories. As evidence, they offered the story of an older brother who convinced his younger brother he was lost at a mall. The false memory story went viral. The popular press and psychology textbooks failed to challenge false memory claims. Individuals who challenged false memories were silenced. The author explains how her successful lawsuit against her parents helped her uncover the rest of the false memory story.

Lynn Crook, M.Ed., has a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Washington (1970). Lynn was herself a therapist when she recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Lynn Crook, MEd, successfully sued her parents for damages in 1994, based on a corroborated claim of childhood sexual abuse.

Book: False Memories - The Deception That Silenced Millions

Lynn Crook - False Memories - The Deception That Silenced Millions

Anneke Lucas – Quest for Love ; Memoir of a child sex slave

Ed’s guest is Anneke Lucas, who has had a traumatic yet ultimately inspiring life. She has ascended from the terrible abuse she suffered as a child to become an icon; a model, writer and a speaker for child trafficking victims and survivors.

She has done this through years of therapy, but also through yoga, meditation and writing, developed by herself during over a decade of supporting and campaigning for victims both inside the prison system and in the wider world.

She has developed a way of being; a healing and coping mechanism she calls ‘The Unconditional Model’, which she believes not only helps those survivors plagued by trauma and flashbacks, but also can be beneficial to society as a whole.

She tells Ed Opperman about her journey and her book.

Book: Quest for Love ; Memoir of a child sex slave

Website: Anneke Lucas

Anneke Lucas – Quest for Love ; Memoir of a child sex slave

In the 1970s in the UK, there can be few names which were as synonymous with childrens television than Jimmy Savile. Savile same to fame via Radio Luxembourg and Tyne Tees Television, eventually appearing on the BBC radio and television networks. He was lauded by politicians and other celebrities for his ‘tireless’ charity work, but beneath the veneer of an eccentric show business DJ and philanthropist, lay a vicious and depraved pervert. Something which only came to wider public attention after his death.

Ed’s guest is Caroline Robinson, great niece to Savile. She tells how it was known what Savile was in the family, and she herself was victim to the abuse Savile dished out to others. Unlike others, though, Ms Robinson’s silence was bought by both Savile lavishing gifts and support on her and the wish not to have the association to someone so famous suddenly removed from her family. ‘It made me proud to tell others my Great Uncle was Jimmy Savile’ she said.

Following Savile’s passing in 2011, a sleuth of accusers – many unknown to each other – surfaced. Savile had allegedly sexually abused children in theatres, cars, private homes, BBC dressing rooms and almost no area was safe for him to be left alone with a child of either sex. His access to places like Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville Hospital also gave suspicion that Savile may have abused patients and there is some evidence to suggest Savile indulged in necrophilia.

The legacy of filth lives on; did the BBC mandarins know about Savile? Was his presentation from a distant studio in Manchester a move to make staff feel safer whilst not acknowledging complicity?

This interview is about family. It’s about having a secret; but it’s also about how a slick, protected paedophile fooled a nation, how he betrayed parents, abused vulnerable and/or impressionable children and adults and how he was in plain sight all the time.

Books: In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile Savile - The Beast: The Inside Story of the Greatest Scandal in TV History: Singing with "Iron Maiden" - the Drugs, the Groupies...the Whole Story Victim Zero: Jimmy Savile tried to ruin my life. I was the first victim to fight back.

Ed Opperman

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