Category: Way before it all

Breaking away from a cult, or not

I didn’t really know I was a weird cult kid until everyone at my new school explained that I was a weird cult kid. Or, no. They didn’t explain that to me, they just didn’t particularly like me because I seemed strange and brought packed lunches that involved sprouted...

Seaweed for breakfast: my childhood in a cult, part 2

So there we were, living in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t at school, and we weren’t really being taught at home, either. I mean – there were some textbooks. We did a bit. Every so often a Schools Inspector would rock up from the Council and check we...

An accidental weirdo: my childhood in a cult, part 1

Back in the day, in the 1980s, I had quite an ordinary childhood in the east end of London, with two parents who liked each other and me, and a small sister who liked our parents but wasn’t that keen on me (it was mutual at that point). My...