Fergal Keane reads his powerful and intensely personal memoir of war, fear and PTSD. Today, the journalist looks back to the beginning when it all began.

The Madness is Fergal Keane's account of his personal struggle with trauma. Here he looks back to the events and relationships that shaped his childhood and laid the groundwork for his PTSD. He finds that the historic past is partly responsible for his damaged mental health when he unearths the truth behind his grandmother's experiences. We learn that Hannah Purtill was a spy during the Irish Revolution where she witnessed the terrible violence that tore her community apart, leading to depression and anxiety, conditions that decades later her grandson came to understand all too well. Then there were the Troubles which started when Fergal Keane was a child and contributed to his fascination with history, identity and conflict, which in turn lay the foundation for his career as a war reporter. The turning point came when he went to Rwanda in 1994 and bore witness to the brutality and horror of the genocide, with the personal impact causing him to breakdown. The journey to recovery is long, and remains tough and constantly testing.

Fergal Keane OBE has covered most of the world's conflicts over the past thirty years for the BBC. In 2020, he announced that he was stepping down as the BBC's Africa editor because of his ongoing struggles with PTSD. He is an award winning writer, and ahs been awarded a BAFTA, an Emmy and the Orwell Prize for political writing. He continues to work for the BBC as a Special Correspondent, and to write.

The music is Late Fragment (wordless) and is composed and performed by Daniel Keane.

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard. Show less