Julia Thorogood

As early as the late 1920s, MA suffered from a thyroid gland that was often swollen, and occasionally cystic. This meant her neck was often stiff and sore, and that she put on weight...

Friends noticed a deterioration after this episode. Her other biographer, Julia Thorogood , points out that during the previous year she had been often ill and tired, but the cause was not identified.

At Severalls, MA received high doses of irradiation for the lump in her left breast, from a cobalt bomb she called fiery Fred. She was very frightened throughout and realized that she was going...