Although the millionaire philanthropist described in today's Times newspaper, appears to live in Wimbledon or perhaps Wimbledon Park, I should make plain that he is not I.
He does appear however to have written his very successful autobiography or memoirs, called "A Ticket to Ride", which gives some small similarity to our respective lives.
His memoirs naturally provide an account of the more difficult times of his life which are of course hugely different from those of yours truly, as illustrated in my autobiography The Wandering Soul, though depression for many including this blogger, may not be as severe or with such extreme consequences, as that experienced by Sir Peter.
Sir Peter Lampi the philanthropist in question, details a time when he became depressed following the breakdown of his marriage as a result of which he apparently wandered London in a metaphoric fog.
One morning it seems that he left his house early and after sitting for a while on a local park bench, eventually took a District Line Underground train to Victoria mainline station. Fortunately a woman recognised him sitting looking forlorn on a bench, in the station. She turned out to have known him through some of his earlier voluntary schools(?) work and brought British Transport police officers to assist him.
Meanwhile his family had become very concerned about his safety but eventually his mental health became fully restored. At that point it seemed that he received a huge bill from 'Dial a Cab' as a consequence of his being driven rather aimlessly around London when unwell.
The newspaper reports that Sir Peter took the view that memoirs should include essentially the good, the bad and the ugly times of life with the criterion for inclusion being whether the account was relevant to his life as a whole. His depression he felt was important and should not be taboo.
I agree.
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