Allen Carr – The Man Who Wanted to ‘Cure’ Smoking ~ 21st November BBC Radio 4
In advance of the 10th Anniversary of Allen Carr’s death (29/11/16) John Waite looks back at the life and work of Allen Carr who helped millions of people quit smoking with his books and clinics.
Presenter John Waite was given “Access All Areas” permission to tour the Worldwide HQ of Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation in London, England, interviewing Allen Carr’s wife, Joyce Carr,Robin Hayley – Chairman, Allen Carr’s Easyway, and John Dicey – Worldwide CEO, Allen Carr’s Easyway – as well as smokers attending an Allen Carr’s Easyway Seminar during the tour.
John Dicey. Worldwide CEO, Allen Carr’s Easyway comments “We are delighted at the interest that has been shown by the media in marking the 10th Anniversary of Allen’s death, and even more delighted that BBC Radio 4 wished to look into Allen’s story and legacy in such detail. The programme includes interviews with some of Allen’s fiercest critics in the medical and scientific establishment but I’m sure it will be a fitting tribute to Allen’s legacy, as well as an entertaining, engaging, and thoroughly objective programme”.
Carr, a former accountant, was a chain smoker who smoked a hundred cigarettes a day before giving up in the early 1980s. Carr then devised his own method for quitting cigarettes and wrote his first book, The Easyway to Stop Smoking, which became an international best-seller. After running smoking cessation sessions in his own home, he launched a company that has now grown to run clinics in more than 50 countries around the world.
John Waite, who smoked for nearly fifty years himself, considers how Carr devised his famous method and what made it so popular with people trying to quit smoking. He visits the Easyway organisation’s London clinic where he meets a group of smokers who are taking part in an all-day session and are desperate to kick the habit.
John also speaks to some of the UK’s leading experts on smoking cessation as he considers Carr’s strongly held belief that nicotine products, such as patches and gum, should not be used in fighting tobacco addiction. He examines Carr’s controversial views that there is a conspiracy involving not just tobacco companies but also the government, the media and the medical profession to keep people addicted to nicotine because of the huge revenues it generates.
Finally, John talks to Allen Carr’s widow about her husband’s genuinely held desire to cure the world of smoking and, with tobacco use now at a record low at least in the UK, he asks how close we are to making that a reality.
