Nick Charles MBE is a pioneer in treating alcohol dependency. As the
founder of both the Chaucer Clinic and the Gainsborough Foundation, he
was the first person to be honoured by the Queen ‘for services to people
with alcohol problems’ and his work – over four decades – has helped
tens of thousands of people. But Nick’s decorated success overlays an
extraordinary and unforgettable personal journey, for Nick was once an
alcoholic vagrant sleeping rough on the streets of London.


In 50 Years of Hard Road, Nick details his time in the abyss of
alcohol addiction; a period that despatched relationships, his health,
his career, and so much more. Forced to live on the streets for four
years, Nick recalls the tough times, the characters he met, and the
ever-present call of alcohol, but also how he slowly built up two
carrier bags-worth of painstaking research into alcohol and its effects
on his fellow man. It was through the documents in these carrier bags
that Nick’s life was to change forever when, in the mid-1970s, he was
taken under the wing of a doctor who cared for those on skid row. This
dedicated medic recognised the treasure trove of information Nick had
developed.


50 Years of Hard Road is a remarkable, uplifting, and often humorous
story of one man’s journey from the depths of life-crushing alcohol
dependency, to running alcohol clinics and programmes across the
country. It describes an incredible life filled with high points, low
points, and amazing adventures in-between.