From The Archive: The Price of Brotherhood

From The Guardian 2008

I was born 22 months after my brother, Jeff – almost two years in which he was the glorious, sole and undisputed recipient of my parents' affection. Then one day in January 1956, his mother vanished entirely for three months – confined to hospital with me, a sickly, ailing child.

Jeff was removed from his home and sent to live with relatives. My father, …