The Writer With Cerebral Palsy Who Made History
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2018
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Irish writer Christopher Nolan became the first severely disabled person to win the prestigious British literary prize, the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1988. Nolan was physically disabled at birth by severe cerebral palsy, leaving him paralysed from the neck down. He won for his autobiographical book: Under the Eye of the Clock. Christy wrote by tapping a keyboard with a device strapped to his head. Farhana Haider has been listening to the BBC archives and speaking to the art critic Eileen Battersby about the remarkable writer.
(Photo: The finalists for the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in London Christopher Nolan (seated) (L-R) Bernadette Nolan and fellow finalists Francis Wyndham, Geraldine McCaughrean, Joanna Mackle (representing Seamus Heaney) and Ian McEwan. Credit: PA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:06.8 | searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the |
| 0:11.8 | telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:14.0 | Cladie Aide. |
| 0:16.0 | Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. |
| 0:19.0 | Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige. |
| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less searching |
| 0:25.7 | and a lot more auction. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.8 | Hello and thank you for downloading this edition of the Witness Podcast, history as told by the people who are there. |
| 0:35.6 | I'm Frahana Hither and today I'm taking you back to January the 19th, 1988. |
| 0:41.6 | When the remarkable Irish writer Christopher Nolan became the first severely disabled person |
| 0:47.0 | to win the prestigious British literary prize, the Whitbread Book of the Year. |
| 0:58.0 | Born with severe cerebral palsy, 22-year-old Christie, as he was known, was unable to move or speak, |
| 1:00.0 | and had been confined to a wheelchair. |
| 1:05.1 | He was awarded the prize for his literary autobiography under the eye of the clock. |
| 1:11.0 | When Christie heard he'd won the 25,000-pone prize last night, he looked astounded. |
| 1:17.0 | In an acceptance speech read by his mother, Christie said, |
| 1:21.0 | I want to shout with joy. |
| 1:23.0 | My heart is full of gratitude. |
| 1:24.9 | He went on. |
| 1:26.0 | You must all realize that history is now in the making. |
| 1:30.0 | Tonight, crippled man is taking his place on the world literary stage. |
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