The Idiot Boy

Bob Turney must be the first 'dunce'-and from the wrong side of the tracks-to win a debate at the Oxford Union, to have addressed assembly at Eton College, been welcomed as a guest at No. 10 Downing Street, dined at the House of Lords and whose existing writings are in regular use at universities in the UK and abroad. In this captivating and very readable book Bob tells how he overcame multiple disadvantages: dyslexia, being wrongly categorised as educationally subnormal, drug and alcohol misuse and 20 years on-and-off as a guest of Her Majesty. It is a compelling true story of how against all the odds he survived trauma, misfortune and life 'in the gutter' to become a much respected family man, community leader, friend of the great and the good, commentator and public speaker: a prisoner reborn as a probation officer whose new world took on a fresh and unique life of its own.'I know Bob Turney, and I know his work, I have witnessed him hold an audience, spellbound': Dr Deborah Cheney. 'Bob Turney is a true champion of human rights in the penal system': Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.'A remarkable man who made a great recovery from the depths': Lord Longford