Dying for Beginners

Former editor of Question Time, Charlie Courtauld was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, at the age of 34. As a passionate communicator, he wrote a highly personal diary of his experience of the illness, which was published as a newspaper column and blog. His wish to share his account of life with MS has led to this collection of thought-provoking snapshots – charting his hopes and fears about MS, as well the ordinary ups and downs of life as a father of three. Funny, irreverent, unflinchingly honest and at times very sad, Charlie intended his blog to be something of a guide to dying for beginners. But in doing this he has given us a life-affirming take on the preciousness of ordinary daily life, and an invitation to think seriously about the thing ‘we prefer not to think about’. As Charlie puts it: “There are no second tries or best-of-threes. So we don’t want to mess it up. Thanks to this bloody MS, I am dying. Not immediately: more than a year. But fewer than five. And I want to get it right. Join me as I find out about this thing.”