Anthony Ryle

As a newly qualified doctor in the early years of the NHS, Anthony Ryle co- founded a group practice in North London with the intention of providing both good clinical care and a sympathetic practice environment for the then largely working- class residents. He found himself dealing as much with the psychological as the medical problems of his patients, and psychological issues were still more central to the concerns of students at the new University of Sussex where he was appointed director of the University Health Service in 1964. In the 1980s he was appointed Psychotherapy Consultant at St. Thomas’ Hospital.

In his research he focused in particular on the process and outcome of psychotherapy, and developed an integrated approach to its practice which he called Cognitive Analytic Therapy. This is now widely available in the NHS, as well as in some private and voluntary organisations in the UK and abroad.

His publications include: Introducing cognitive analytic therapy: principles and practice –  with Ian B. Kerry, (Wiley, 2002), Cognitive- analytic therapy –  active participation in change: A new integration in brief psychotherapy (Wiley, 1991), Frames and Cages: the repertory grid approach to human understanding (Sussex University Press, 1975) and Student Casualties (Allen Lane, 1969). In addition to these, two interviews with him are available in the Oral History collections at the British Library: C648/61/01- 02: interview by Michael Bevan, part of An Oral History of General Practice, 1936- 1952 (1993), and C1553/02 interview by Zibiah Alfred, part of An Oral History of Talking Therapists in the UK (2013).

Annabel Gregory

Annabel worked for several years as a research officer in Birkbeck College History department (University of London), and later taught computing techniques for historians to MA students in History and History of Art. She completed a doctorate on early- modern Rye in 1985*, and co- edited with Michael Hunter An Astrological Diary of the Seventeenth Century: Samuel Jeake of Rye, 1652- 99 (OUP, 1988).

Many of the ideas in Rye Spirits were first aired in the article ‘Witchcraft, politics and “good neighbourhood” in early seventeenth century Rye’, Past & Present 133 (Nov. 1991): 31- 66; reprinted in New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology. Vol. III: Witchcraft in the British Isles and New England (ed.) Brian P. Levack (Routledge, 2001), pp. 99- 134.

She also co- authored with Roderick Floud and Kenneth Wachter Height, Health and History: Nutritional status in the United Kingdom, 1750- 1980 (CUP, 1990) –  writing most of chapter 6, on patterns of growth in the developing world.

*’Slander accusations and social control in late 16th and early 17th century England, with particular reference to Rye, Sussex, 1590- 1615′. D.Phil. thesis in Social Anthropology (Univ. of Sussex).

Alex King

Alex King studied Fine Art and, later, History, and has worked in various capacities in libraries and archives in London and Cambridge. He is also an active photographer. He is the author of Memorials of the Great War in Britain: the symbolism and politics of remembrance (Berg, 1998), and articles on topics related to this. The Times Literary Supplement published his essay ‘A Master for Life –  Frank Harris, Katherine Mansfield and the Rider’s bookshop circle’, in 2010.