0:00:07 > 0:00:12Over 50 years ago, the drug thalidomide shocked the world.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17There are some children without arms, some without legs,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20some without arms OR legs.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24We're looking at the very worst disaster inflicted by medicine.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29For ten years, a battle for compensation was fought
0:00:29 > 0:00:32against one of Britain's largest corporations.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36This was one of the dirtiest pieces of litigation
0:00:36 > 0:00:38run by a large corporate ever.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42One man stood up against this injustice.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46I said, "I don't agree with all this. I think it's absolutely absurd.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48"I think it's ridiculous and I am not going to accept it."
0:00:48 > 0:00:53But this man would see those he was fighting for turn against him.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58For the vast majority of parents, he doesn't represent them at all.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The other parents described him as a bit of a show-off,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03and enjoying it all.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06And many attempted to silence his story.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11David Mason said, "I am being blackmailed into a cover-up
0:01:11 > 0:01:14"about what almost amounts to an atrocity."
0:01:14 > 0:01:19The phone calls were terrible, threatening physical violence.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Some of them threatened the well-being of my family.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26But his actions set in motion a chain of events
0:01:26 > 0:01:30that changed the lives of every thalidomide child in this country.
0:01:30 > 0:01:36Our lives would not be what they are today without the work he had done.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39And the legacy of that battle continues today,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42over 50 years on from the tragedy.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47Campaigners are now focusing on the inventors of the drug.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51What gives that company the right to get away from this
0:01:51 > 0:01:54without recognising the damage they've caused,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57not just to us, but to whole families?
0:02:05 > 0:02:07BABY CRIES
0:02:10 > 0:02:12When I was born, I was born at home,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18delivered by a midwife, who was shocked, to say the least.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I was given to my dad.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Midwife explained, no arms, no legs.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30I think he was quite gutted, obviously.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I was born with heart deformities,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38which are quite common to people with thalidomide disability.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42My early days were spent in an oxygen tent.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44I was very small,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48and obviously was fighting for those very early days.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56The door of the delivery room opened and the doctor came out.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58He walked towards me and said,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01"Oh, Mr Mason, I wonder if we could have a word."
0:03:01 > 0:03:05There was no "Congratulations" or anything like that.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It was just, "I wonder if we could have a word."
0:03:09 > 0:03:12So I pushed past him, we went into the delivery room,
0:03:12 > 0:03:17and there in the hospital cot was...
0:03:19 > 0:03:21..Louise, our daughter.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26She can only be described at the time as a torso
0:03:26 > 0:03:29with what appeared to be little flowers
0:03:29 > 0:03:33where her arms should be and her legs should be.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Nothing could have prepared you for such a shock.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Between 1959 and 1963, hundreds of babies across Britain
0:03:46 > 0:03:49were being born severely damaged by thalidomide.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54This drug had been taken by expectant mothers
0:03:54 > 0:03:56suffering from symptoms of early pregnancy.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Hundreds of babies have been born deformed,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03some of them without arms,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06simply because their mothers, in the early stage
0:04:06 > 0:04:11of their pregnancy, took a new drug called thalidomide as a sedative.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Thalidomide only damaged the unborn baby
0:04:14 > 0:04:19if it was taken during the first 42 days of pregnancy,
0:04:19 > 0:04:20and the scale of the injuries
0:04:20 > 0:04:24depended on what day the drug was taken.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The damage varied from day to day.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30So if the mother took the drug on around day 20,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33you'd be getting central brain damage,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35and 21, it would be the eyes,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and 22 to 23, it would be the ears and the hearing and the face,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and day 24, it would be the upper limb damage.
0:04:42 > 0:04:48So a tablet on day 24 was capable of removing a complete pair of arms,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50and over the next four days,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52corresponding patterns of leg damage.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Parents struggled to cope with the realisation
0:04:57 > 0:05:01that a drug they had taken had caused damage to their own baby.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04My mother had a nervous breakdown.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06In those days, the blame was on the parents
0:05:06 > 0:05:10for having given birth to children with disabilities,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and they all knew it was a drug that they'd taken,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15so the parents were blaming themselves,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and that's an incredibly soul-destroying blame to live with.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25But as one parent saw it,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28the guilt shouldn't rest with those who took the drug,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32but instead, with those who made it.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36These are dreadful thoughts to have, but I felt a sense of relief,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40because now here I had a reason
0:05:40 > 0:05:45as to why our baby was in such a mess,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and the reason was somebody else.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Not me, not Vicki.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53These are very ignoble thoughts,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56you know, they're not anything I'm proud of thinking,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58but this is the truth.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Thalidomide had been sold in Britain by Distillers.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07At the time, they were the UK's largest manufacturer
0:06:07 > 0:06:09of whisky, gin and vodka.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13How a drinks company became responsible
0:06:13 > 0:06:16for one of the greatest drug scandals of all time
0:06:16 > 0:06:20can be traced back to a single article in a Sunday newspaper.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27In 1956, they saw an article in the Sunday Times
0:06:27 > 0:06:30suggesting that there was a new wonder drug called Valium
0:06:30 > 0:06:35that was totally harmless and a very good relaxing preparation
0:06:35 > 0:06:37and that it would probably result
0:06:37 > 0:06:41in people preferring to have a tablet of Valium when they got home,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44rather than a whisky and soda or a brandy and ginger.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48And it appears at the next meeting of the Distillers directors,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51the chairman apparently put this article in front of them all
0:06:51 > 0:06:53and said, "What are we going to do about this?
0:06:53 > 0:06:55"Our business could be at risk."
0:06:58 > 0:07:04In 1957, Distillers licensed a drug they hoped would calm their fears.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Thalidomide was a tranquilliser
0:07:06 > 0:07:10from German pharmaceutical firm Chemie Grunenthal.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14It was being marketed as a non-toxic sedative,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17a drug you could not overdose on.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19The people who'd invented it,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Chemie Grunenthal, in Germany,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24had not been able to find any adverse effects.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25On animal experiments,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28they had found it impossible to kill rats with thalidomide,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31so it seemed to be an extremely good drug.
0:07:31 > 0:07:37In 1958, thalidomide was released in the UK under various brand names,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39including Distaval.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43It was a huge success, and deemed so safe,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46it was eventually given to pregnant women for morning sickness.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50In the 1950s, the theory was
0:07:50 > 0:07:52that morning sickness was psychosomatic,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56it was all to do with women being very excited about being pregnant,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00and that's why a lot of doctors thought a sedative
0:08:00 > 0:08:04that was not an anti-emetic would be helpful with morning sickness.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09And one thing thalidomide doesn't do is to stop people throwing up.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20From 1959, medical staff began witnessing a surge
0:08:20 > 0:08:22in rare birth defects.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Doctors and midwives struggled to cope with the malformations
0:08:27 > 0:08:29they were witnessing in the delivery room.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35The first reaction of the clinical staff was panic themselves,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and they just did not know how to handle the situation
0:08:38 > 0:08:42of showing the mother the baby that she'd just given birth to.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45BABY CRIES
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Stories of medical staff ignoring the problem
0:08:48 > 0:08:51were told to journalist and author Phillip Knightley,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54who researched the thalidomide tragedy.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Nobody knew how to handle it.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59In some instances that we know of,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03the maternity nurses would wrap the baby in swaddling clothes
0:09:03 > 0:09:07and send it home for the mother to find out for herself.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12I said, "Go and get my baby," and she said, "Oh, I can't."
0:09:12 > 0:09:16I said, "Go and get my baby. I want to see her."
0:09:17 > 0:09:19And she brought my baby
0:09:19 > 0:09:23and I unwrapped her and poured down with tears,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26cos I could see all her limbs were affected.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Apparently when I was born,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35the midwife assumed that I was dead when I came out.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39I was stuck in some kind of like container under the bed
0:09:39 > 0:09:41while they saw to my mother.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44And I don't know whether I had, like,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47moved or made a sound, or someone had kicked the box,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50but I started crying in the box.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58It was suggested that I was left in the hospital there,
0:09:58 > 0:10:05obviously then to go into a home, or I could die naturally.
0:10:05 > 0:10:06I think...
0:10:07 > 0:10:10..it wouldn't be wrong to say
0:10:10 > 0:10:13euthanasia was probably on their minds.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18The chairman of The Thalidomide Trust
0:10:18 > 0:10:20has heard first-hand accounts
0:10:20 > 0:10:23about extreme decisions that medical staff made.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27It seems that a very considerable number of babies
0:10:27 > 0:10:30were put to death immediately after birth.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34They were either suffocated or they were put in a cold place
0:10:34 > 0:10:39so that they would get hypothermia and die in a cold room.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Thalidomide was on sale for three years
0:10:51 > 0:10:55before the medical world realised it was causing the birth defects.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02In the winter of 1961, thalidomide was withdrawn from sale.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11But over 180 million tablets had been sold in over 46 countries.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15This was a global tragedy.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21We're looking at a number that's well in excess of 100,000 babies
0:11:21 > 0:11:25who were either destroyed or damaged by the drug,
0:11:25 > 0:11:30and that makes it the very worst disaster inflicted by medicine.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38In the UK, around 550 children damaged by thalidomide
0:11:38 > 0:11:41survived beyond their first few months of life.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Distillers refused to accept liability for the tragedy,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51even though they had distributed the drug.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56Distillers saw themselves as much of a victim as the kids were.
0:11:56 > 0:11:57"These things happen."
0:11:57 > 0:12:00You know, it's part of the penalty you pay
0:12:00 > 0:12:03for advances in the pharmaceutical industry.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09But the parents of the thalidomide children disagreed.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12They wanted to see someone brought to justice.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14So in 1962,
0:12:14 > 0:12:19a group of 62 families started legal proceedings against Distillers.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24One family took a more direct approach.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28David Mason's family were Distillers shareholders
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and his father met with the chairman of the drinks company.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Bottom line is, my father said they denied liability
0:12:35 > 0:12:37and said they would not be paying compensation out on it,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40because they weren't negligent, et cetera, et cetera,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44and they were making it under licence from another company
0:12:44 > 0:12:48and there was no way they were going to pay compensation, and...
0:12:48 > 0:12:51But my father managed to extract from them a promise
0:12:51 > 0:12:56that if, however, at a later date, policy changed,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00then Louise, his granddaughter, would be included.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05David Mason's agreement with Distillers meant nothing
0:13:05 > 0:13:06unless there was a settlement.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12But Distillers disputed their liability.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17And as each year went by, parents involved in the legal fight
0:13:17 > 0:13:20realised there was to be no swift outcome.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28The court case did have a great impact on my parents financially...
0:13:28 > 0:13:32as well as mentally, it affected them.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35The case went on for an incredibly long time,
0:13:35 > 0:13:40and it was almost part of their lives on a daily basis.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46This legal battle was just one of the pressures
0:13:46 > 0:13:48these families had to endure.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51Another challenge for them
0:13:51 > 0:13:55was how society reacted to severely disabled children.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00My mum went through...a hard time.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Um...
0:14:02 > 0:14:05If she didn't suffer enough guilt herself,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08other people helped her to feel guilty.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13She would hear people talking behind her back
0:14:13 > 0:14:16that, "Oh, it's one of those thalidomide children,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19"the mother shouldn't have taken the tablets, all her fault."
0:14:19 > 0:14:22So, my mum went through...
0:14:23 > 0:14:24..pain.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28For the families, it was isolation,
0:14:28 > 0:14:33it was alienation, it was fear of the future,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36and it was a terrible sense of guilt.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39"Now, why did I take...? I only had morning sickness.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41"Why did I take that pill?"
0:14:42 > 0:14:45In the '60s, disabled people were largely hidden from society.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49You know, we were hidden away in institutions and special schools
0:14:49 > 0:14:52and, you know, you didn't really see disabled people.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56I would say there was still a lot of shame around disability as well,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and embarrassment, you know,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00and I think maybe that's why some thalidomide parents
0:15:00 > 0:15:02just couldn't cope and gave up their kids.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07And many parents were given advice
0:15:07 > 0:15:10to put their newborn baby immediately into care.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14We sat down with the experts.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17They said, "How can you look after her at home?"
0:15:17 > 0:15:20You know, "What chance, what opportunity can you give her?
0:15:20 > 0:15:23"Where does she stand the best chance in life?"
0:15:23 > 0:15:26He said, "I think certainly not at home."
0:15:28 > 0:15:32The pressure pushed some parents to breaking point.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Quite a lot of the fathers found it very hard to take
0:15:37 > 0:15:39that their child was so deformed
0:15:39 > 0:15:43and, in fact, there was, I think, a 50% divorce rate in the end.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Many of the mothers really couldn't take it.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Three of the mothers - to my knowledge - committed suicide.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04During the six years since their child's birth,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06some families had been torn apart.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11For those caught up in the legal battle, there was some good news.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16In 1968, Distillers agreed to pay £1 million,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20worth nearly £15 million today.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25This would be shared out amongst the 62 families who had issued writs.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27After the hearing, the father had told me
0:16:27 > 0:16:30that he was satisfied with the awards, but he said,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33"Nothing can compensate the children for what they have lost.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37"You can't compensate for the loss of arms and legs."
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Hearing about this £1 million settlement,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42David Mason phoned the Distillers chairman
0:16:42 > 0:16:44to remind him of their agreement.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48I went through the undertaking that had been given
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and the conversations that had taken place.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54A furious row developed, at the end of which he said,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58"Mr Mason, this conversation is at an end," and down went the phone.
0:16:59 > 0:17:05I went absolutely ballistic. I'd been slighted, snubbed, I'd been lied to.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10That was the start, as far as I'm concerned,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12of the thalidomide campaign.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17'David Mason, West End art dealer.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19'A man who built up his business from scratch
0:17:19 > 0:17:21'when he was earning £3 a week.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23'Father of four, and one of them
0:17:23 > 0:17:26'one of the first thalidomide children,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28'born with no arms and no legs.'
0:17:30 > 0:17:33David Mason would now set in motion a chain of events
0:17:33 > 0:17:35that would forever change the life
0:17:35 > 0:17:39of every thalidomide child in this country.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43His first action was to have a writ issued against Distillers
0:17:43 > 0:17:46on behalf of his daughter.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49This was to be the first of over 350 writs
0:17:49 > 0:17:53that solicitors issued on behalf of other families.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Then, in November 1971,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Mason and the other parents
0:17:59 > 0:18:03were invited to a meeting in central London.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05When we got there,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08there were hundreds of people going into the hall,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and Vicki and I took a seat at the back.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14They then got up and said,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17"Before we go any further, could you all just have a look round?
0:18:17 > 0:18:19"Do you recognise the people who are around you?
0:18:19 > 0:18:21"Are there any interlopers here?"
0:18:21 > 0:18:22So, we're all looking round
0:18:22 > 0:18:24and sort of people are asking each other questions.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26I'm sitting there thinking,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29"This is absolutely like bloody kangaroo... It's nonsense.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31"What can be so secret? This is ridiculous."
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Secrecy was needed
0:18:33 > 0:18:37because Mason's solicitor had negotiated a potential settlement.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41And that figure was £3 million.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46"£3 million? How the hell do you get to £3 million?
0:18:46 > 0:18:48"Who has done a really thorough job
0:18:48 > 0:18:50"on finding out the individual disability?
0:18:50 > 0:18:52"What's entailed here?"
0:18:53 > 0:18:57This offer worked out to an average of £8,000 per child,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00worth £96,000 today.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03So parents stood up one after the other.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07It was brilliant, it was fantastic, women stood up in tears,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11and all the time, I was sitting in the back in stony silence.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15The parents were desperate.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19They hadn't got enough money. They had a very severely disabled child.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22At the time, the settlement, which was totally inadequate
0:19:22 > 0:19:25to look after the children for the rest of their lives,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27but amounted to a few thousand pounds,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29looked like an attractive alternative
0:19:29 > 0:19:31when nothing had been on offer beforehand.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36But with this offer, there were conditions.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42It had to remain confidential, and every family had to sign.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48Without 100% agreement, this offer would be withdrawn
0:19:48 > 0:19:50and no child would receive a penny.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55So, "Those in favour?" So a sea of hands went up.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00So he said, "Those against?" Nobody put a hand up, including me.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02I didn't want to be lynched.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And there were all these parents, this hysteria going on.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07So, "Right, will everybody queue down the room?"
0:20:09 > 0:20:13I walked straight down, past all the lines of people, right up.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18I said, "I'm just wanting you to know that I don't agree with all this,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"I don't accept it, I think it's absolutely absurd,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24"I think it's ridiculous, and I am not going to accept it."
0:20:30 > 0:20:34By refusing the offer, David Mason was blocking the settlement
0:20:34 > 0:20:36for all the other parents,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and his solicitors made sure everyone knew
0:20:39 > 0:20:42who was holding up the deal.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47The sad thing is, even our lawyers, when they spoke to the parents,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50probably were saying to them that David Mason was to blame
0:20:50 > 0:20:52for not having a settlement already.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54They were desperate to get a solution.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57They wanted to actually draw a line under it.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01So...they were very vulnerable emotionally, the parents...
0:21:01 > 0:21:06and Distillers and the lawyers were able to take advantage of that.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12The money offered would have made an immediate difference
0:21:12 > 0:21:15to the lives of the thalidomide children.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19Many had received no financial assistance since they had been born.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24For some, it was left up to the ingenuity of their parents
0:21:24 > 0:21:27to help them overcome their disabilities.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30'Andy can get in and out of the driving seat without help
0:21:30 > 0:21:32'and without artificial limbs
0:21:32 > 0:21:34'and, for the first time in his life,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37'Andy does not have to ask to be taken out to play.'
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I couldn't sit in a regular chair, so my dad made me,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47out of a few old pallet boards or something, a little chair.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49He made a little step
0:21:49 > 0:21:51that folded out from underneath the sink upstairs,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53that could be folded up out of the way
0:21:53 > 0:21:55when anyone else was using the sink,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58but meant I could reach the tap and brush my teeth.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02He built me a little car, a little pedal car, out of an old oil drum.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04And, again, you know,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06I can remember thinking it was absolutely brilliant.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09As well as adaptations,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13many children were encouraged to use prosthetic limbs.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16But these proved not to be useful in everyday life.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Most of us hated the prosthetic legs, cos in terms of practicality,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23you couldn't walk in the stupid bloody things.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26And they were really heavy, cos they were made of basic metal and leather.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31I remember in junior school, and in the reception classes,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33the desks were, like, really low down.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35And sometimes, if I leant too far forward,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38I'd literally fall over the desk in these stupid legs.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42So the school had a great idea, and you think,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44"Well, why didn't they provide you with bigger desks?"
0:22:44 > 0:22:49But their idea was, they tied us to the pipes of the radiators.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51They were well-meaning.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53I suppose they didn't want to treat us any differently.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56But tying you to the radiator's treating you differently.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Nine years after thalidomide had been taken off the market,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08over 400 families had received nothing in compensation.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Many parents wanted to force through the £3 million settlement
0:23:14 > 0:23:16that Distillers had offered.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18Their solicitors advised them
0:23:18 > 0:23:21that an aggressive course of action would be taken.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26David Mason and four other families would be taken to court.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30They said, "Look, the bottom line is,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33"you're not going to get away with blocking the deal.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37"The other parents are going to move against you
0:23:37 > 0:23:39"and take you to court
0:23:39 > 0:23:43"and have Louise removed from you as next friend and guardian."
0:23:43 > 0:23:44I said, "You what?"
0:23:47 > 0:23:50David Mason's own solicitors
0:23:50 > 0:23:53believed he wasn't acting in his daughter's best interests.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57To force through the £3 million settlement,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01they were threatening to remove him as her legal guardian.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07I'd never heard anything so disgusting in my life
0:24:07 > 0:24:12as getting the other parents who, in a similar position as me,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16with a crippled child, their lives ruined,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20and here they were being party, the whole lot of them,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25to ganging up on me and fighting me and taking my daughter from me.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Er...
0:24:27 > 0:24:29There was very little to say, apart from,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32"Well, I dispense with your services. You're both fired."
0:24:36 > 0:24:39David Mason was losing his battle.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42His own lawyers had turned against him,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44and he was now facing the prospect
0:24:44 > 0:24:46of his daughter being taken away from him.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50But then he hatched a plan
0:24:50 > 0:24:52that could swing the odds back in his favour.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56The one thing that I had thought,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59with all the secrecy surrounding this meeting...
0:24:59 > 0:25:02what if I blew the whistle on the whole thing?
0:25:02 > 0:25:04What if I blew the whistle on the whole thing?
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Fleet Street would be the place I would go.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10MUSIC: "Love Is The Drug" by Roxy Music
0:25:16 > 0:25:19By going to Fleet Street, David Mason was breaking
0:25:19 > 0:25:23the confidentiality clause in Distillers' offer.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25He hoped exposure in the press
0:25:25 > 0:25:29would see the £3 million settlement withdrawn.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33David Mason contacted the Daily Mail and said,
0:25:33 > 0:25:38"I am being blackmailed into a cover-up,
0:25:38 > 0:25:40"er, about...
0:25:42 > 0:25:45"..what almost amounts to an atrocity."
0:25:45 > 0:25:48The Daily Mail's editor, David English,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52saw the importance of reporting this story.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56It was like an epiphany in the newspaper office. Like...
0:25:57 > 0:26:00What's happened? Why haven't we noticed this before?
0:26:00 > 0:26:03- TELEPHONES RING, LOUD CHATTER - Distillers, and the lawyers,
0:26:03 > 0:26:08had up until then kept news of the offer out of the press.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12But once David Mason spoke to David English,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16the editor became determined to expose this father's fight.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19He said, "If I were to publish all of this,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22"would you be prepared to join in it?"
0:26:22 > 0:26:23I said, "You bet I would!"
0:26:26 > 0:26:30I remember going downstairs and I waited for the paper to
0:26:30 > 0:26:32sort of half come through the letter box, snatched it,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36I went upstairs, I was staggered! There was this two-page spread.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43On the 20th of December, 1971,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47the Daily Mail published the first in a series of articles
0:26:47 > 0:26:52exposing David Mason's fight, and the battle for compensation.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57I remember very vividly the Daily Mail headline,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00um, which was, "Scandalous!"
0:27:00 > 0:27:03And I remember, we discussed at the time that "scandalous"
0:27:03 > 0:27:06wasn't a fitting word. It wasn't a bad enough word,
0:27:06 > 0:27:12a big enough word, to describe how we thought
0:27:12 > 0:27:15350 children and their parents were being treated.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Immediately after the first article was published,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23the Daily Mail found itself under extraordinary pressure
0:27:23 > 0:27:26to stop printing future articles.
0:27:26 > 0:27:34Almost immediately, we became aware that the whole thalidomide thing...
0:27:35 > 0:27:38..was being suppressed.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The threats were made, surprisingly, by government lawyers.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56As these 1973 confidential ministerial briefing notes show,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59government lawyers were getting involved, because the other parents
0:27:59 > 0:28:03were worried how these articles could affect their settlement.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09They called on the Attorney General to force the Daily Mail
0:28:09 > 0:28:12to stop publishing any more in its series.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18Attacked on all sides, from Distillers, the parents,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22and the government, the Daily Mail agreed to stop publishing.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Talk about a full stop going on the whole thing.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28It just ground solidly to a halt.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43The press had been silenced.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46And a few months after the Daily Mail articles,
0:28:46 > 0:28:51David Mason was removed as his daughter's legal guardian.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55The £3 million settlement could now be approved.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59There was one last hurdle - Mason's appeal.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02He had one final chance
0:29:02 > 0:29:05to prove he was acting in his daughter's best interests.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08That there was a better settlement out there.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14It was then he was given a tip-off to call a lawyer in Los Angeles.
0:29:17 > 0:29:18I phoned up this number.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20I said, "Dr Fry?" "Yes." "It's David Mason."
0:29:20 > 0:29:24"Ah! Mr Mason. Glad you phoned."
0:29:24 > 0:29:27I said, well, "I'm just in the middle of the court case."
0:29:27 > 0:29:30He said, "I know, I've been reading the newspapers over here.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33"In fact, I've been reading the Daily Mail, cos I fought
0:29:33 > 0:29:35"the Shirley McCarrick case."
0:29:35 > 0:29:38I said, "Who was Shirley McCarrick?" He said, "Oh, a thalidomide victim."
0:29:40 > 0:29:44It was in June 1971 that Mrs Shirley McCarrick
0:29:44 > 0:29:47was awarded 2.7 million
0:29:47 > 0:29:50for the damage thalidomide had caused to her daughter Margaret.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55If Mason could present the documents of this case,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58and its multimillion-dollar settlement,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02he would've proved there could be a better deal out there
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and that he was acting in his daughter's best interests
0:30:05 > 0:30:08by turning down Distillers' offer.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13He said, "I've got all the court records in my office."
0:30:14 > 0:30:18He said, "But I can't come over to you. You can come over to me."
0:30:18 > 0:30:19I said, "I'll be there."
0:30:19 > 0:30:23MUSIC: "Wooden Ships" by Crosby, Stills & Nash
0:30:26 > 0:30:28So I arrived in Los Angeles
0:30:28 > 0:30:32and we went down to his office in Wilshire Boulevard,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34we went in there and there they all were.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38Just documents after documents, folder after folder.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44He said, "This is the writ, this is the judgment, this is the appeal,"
0:30:44 > 0:30:46this is this, this is that, this is, etc, and this is
0:30:46 > 0:30:51the incorporation of who we are and, you know, and our credentials.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56So I got those and, of course, you know, I was overjoyed.
0:30:59 > 0:31:05This judgment was instrumental in Mason winning his appeal.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10He was reinstated as legal guardian to his daughter.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15And now, he could focus his energy on the real fight -
0:31:15 > 0:31:18securing a just settlement from Distillers.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24I felt like, you know, I'd achieved a huge and major victory.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29But of course, I hadn't yet beaten Distillers.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33I'd slapped their face, but, you know, I still hadn't...
0:31:33 > 0:31:35you know, I hadn't beaten them.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Victory in the appeal courts saw David Mason's case
0:31:39 > 0:31:41free to be reported in the media.
0:31:41 > 0:31:47I will not give in until they face up to their moral responsibilities over
0:31:47 > 0:31:51their thalidomide victims and I will fight on until we achieve our goal.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57But David Mason's rising public profile
0:31:57 > 0:32:00angered those who wanted him to sign the deal.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Mr Mason does claim, in fact, that he represents most of...
0:32:04 > 0:32:08He does not claim and it was proved in there just now!
0:32:08 > 0:32:11He might have claimed... be the spokesman for a few,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15but for the vast majority of parents, he doesn't represent them at all!
0:32:17 > 0:32:20The other parents felt like he was seeking publicity
0:32:20 > 0:32:23for his own daughter, or his case.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26I heard somebody describe him
0:32:26 > 0:32:29as a bit of a show-off and enjoying it all.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32They started off at £3.25 million.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34I refused it. I stood out on my own and said no.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37There was a certain amount of parental opposition to this.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Er, I received threatening letters, I received threatening phone calls.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43TELEPHONE RINGS
0:32:45 > 0:32:48The phone calls were terrible, threatening physical violence.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52Some of them threatened the, er, well-being of my family.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Police cars outside their schools,
0:32:57 > 0:32:59police cars calling round at the house,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02me waking up in the middle of the night, which I did frequently,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05and looking out of the window and seeing a police car.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Not comfortable. Not comfortable.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12Mason's high-profile campaign
0:33:12 > 0:33:16was also having an impact on his daughter Louise.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18At the institution where she lived,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22the other children objected to what her father was doing.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27People were going on saying, "Oh, your father's a big head" and
0:33:27 > 0:33:30"Why does your father do these sort of things?"
0:33:31 > 0:33:34And, "Louise, you keep right away from me,
0:33:34 > 0:33:38"I don't want to get involved with your father and you."
0:33:38 > 0:33:39Come here. Now, sit.
0:33:39 > 0:33:45All their anger, because they were supporting their parents,
0:33:45 > 0:33:46was aimed it me.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52Because I was number one, enemy number one's daughter.
0:33:52 > 0:33:59So I went from being pretty popular to being sent to Coventry.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01So I found it pretty hard.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Mason had wanted to use the media in his fight against Distillers.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13But after reporting the success of his appeal, the press backed off.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18The media were afraid of sub judice,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20the prejudicing of any ongoing court case.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24'This blasted sub judice thing,'
0:34:24 > 0:34:28I couldn't go on television, I couldn't go on the radio,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31I couldn't go into the newspapers, I couldn't go and so on,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35I couldn't take the fight to them. Why? Because of sub judice.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38I... I had a...
0:34:38 > 0:34:41a frustration that was beginning to creep in.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46David Mason was finding it impossible to use the press
0:34:46 > 0:34:48to help fight back against Distillers.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54Then, in the autumn of 1972,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57his fight attracted interest from The Sunday Times.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02Phillip Knightley, one of their top investigative reporters,
0:35:02 > 0:35:07met with Mason at his gallery to explain how his paper could help.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09I said, "Yes, I'm pleased to tell you
0:35:09 > 0:35:12"I'm here, Mr Mason, to offer you the full facilities
0:35:12 > 0:35:15"of The Sunday Times to help you in your quest, in your campaign."
0:35:19 > 0:35:21Phillip Knightley, and The Sunday Times,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25had been working for the past five years on the thalidomide story,
0:35:25 > 0:35:30but had found their articles constrained by the legal problems.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35They were determined to expose how this tragedy had unfolded in the UK.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Well, the burning sense of outrage that
0:35:38 > 0:35:41perhaps the greatest tragedy in the history of the drug industry
0:35:41 > 0:35:43has never been fully investigated
0:35:43 > 0:35:47or with reasons got into. And I think the public
0:35:47 > 0:35:49have a right to know the whole story, how it came about.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53The Sunday Times' editor, Harold Evans,
0:35:53 > 0:35:58had devised a way of getting around the reporting restrictions.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02His paper would focus on the plight of the families,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04rather than Distillers' liability.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08The night before this campaign was launched,
0:36:08 > 0:36:13David Mason was invited to The Sunday Times' printing presses.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15We went into the print room. He said,
0:36:15 > 0:36:21"I would like you to push the button that will set everything going."
0:36:21 > 0:36:23And there was this tremendous emotional moment
0:36:23 > 0:36:25where we pushed the button... BELL RINGS
0:36:25 > 0:36:29..and the noise, the racket, and all the papers started.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36The papers were pouring off the side.
0:36:36 > 0:36:37I picked up the first one.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42And there it was - "Thalidomide: a cause for national shame."
0:36:46 > 0:36:49This article would prove to be a watershed moment
0:36:49 > 0:36:51in the battle against Distillers.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Over the following weeks, The Sunday Times
0:36:55 > 0:36:58published stories on the children damaged by thalidomide.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Marjorie Wallace travelled the country
0:37:02 > 0:37:04finding families affected by the drug.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09My first job was to track down the families,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12and that was much harder than you could think.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14There was such secrecy surrounding thalidomide.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17And the lawyers fighting for compensation said,
0:37:17 > 0:37:18"You must never, ever talk to the press,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21"because that would jeopardise your compensation
0:37:21 > 0:37:23"and the compensation for everyone."
0:37:23 > 0:37:26So, sometimes, I would turn up at the doors and I would
0:37:26 > 0:37:30knock very nervously - I was a very young reporter at the time -
0:37:30 > 0:37:32and then, sometimes, I would be allowed in
0:37:32 > 0:37:34and I would have to gain their trust.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45I would spend hours and hours, really just being with them,
0:37:45 > 0:37:51just watching what it was like to have a ten or 12-year-old child
0:37:51 > 0:37:53without any arms, without legs.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01I will never forget, there was a girl on a rocking chair
0:38:01 > 0:38:05just rocking back and forward and screaming.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09And her mother said, "She just screamed like a rabbit in a snare."
0:38:09 > 0:38:14And she didn't do anything all day but just rock and scream
0:38:14 > 0:38:18while her parents looked on helplessly.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24These weekly articles
0:38:24 > 0:38:28kept the plight of the thalidomide children in the public eye.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31And this ongoing campaign attracted the attention
0:38:31 > 0:38:33of a Member of Parliament.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37There are some children without arms,
0:38:37 > 0:38:42some without legs, some without arms or legs!
0:38:42 > 0:38:44And they haven't received a penny!
0:38:44 > 0:38:49And it's dragged on in a legal wrangle for ten years!
0:38:50 > 0:38:55Jack Ashley MP, who had become deaf at the age of 45,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58was determined to use the power of Parliament
0:38:58 > 0:39:00to help the campaign for compensation.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02He was always a hugely compassionate man
0:39:02 > 0:39:04and he was always very, very upset,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07genuinely just upset by disability
0:39:07 > 0:39:11and people not being able to get around, to be mobile, um,
0:39:11 > 0:39:13and he saw the original Sunday Times story
0:39:13 > 0:39:15and was determined to do something about it.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19Jack Ashley proposed a parliamentary motion
0:39:19 > 0:39:23to highlight the plight of the families affected by thalidomide.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27And then, the night before the debate,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Distillers upped their offer,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34from £3 million to £5 million.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Well, I think they thought this was a chance to stop the whole thing,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40but it wasn't that simple, their offer was still fairly derisory.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44My father had been a skilled trade union negotiator for many years
0:39:44 > 0:39:47early on in his career and his immediate response to this was
0:39:47 > 0:39:50"far too little, far too late," and they were having none of it,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53so everything progressed as it was always going to do.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56HUBBUB OF THE COMMONS
0:39:56 > 0:40:00On 29th of November, 1972,
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Jack Ashley opened the Parliamentary debate on thalidomide.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06It was a packed chamber.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08Jack got to his feet.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15He said, "We're talking about children at 10 years of age
0:40:15 > 0:40:21"the height of two Johnnie Walker whisky bottles stood end on end."
0:40:21 > 0:40:24And, his oratory was brilliant.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29But interestingly, there were quite a few people who were still
0:40:29 > 0:40:32on the side of industry who were saying, "This isn't right.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35"You shouldn't be trying to do this. This is most unusual."
0:40:35 > 0:40:37Um, so I think the house was fairly divided.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40I would say many more on my father's side than on Distillers' side,
0:40:40 > 0:40:44but it wasn't a clear-cut battle at the time.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49He said, and I remember this phrase particularly, he said,
0:40:49 > 0:40:54"How can it be that you can have a young girl, no arms to...
0:40:57 > 0:41:01"..to hold somebody with and no legs to dance on?"
0:41:07 > 0:41:09Hard words.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13And, er, tough words, but brilliant words.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20This debate, along with the ongoing Sunday Times campaign,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23galvanised public opinion.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25There were student protests on the streets
0:41:25 > 0:41:28demanding justice for the thalidomide children.
0:41:31 > 0:41:32And around the country,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36posters suddenly appeared attacking Distillers.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43So, you'd have a wheel man driving the car,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45you'd have a chap in the back with the posters
0:41:45 > 0:41:48and I'm talking about, say, 500 posters.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51So you'd drive along until you saw an empty shop or a hoarding
0:41:51 > 0:41:54and the paste man would quickly put the paste on,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57whack the poster up, over the top it would go.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59You'd do two or three different posters
0:41:59 > 0:42:03and then you'd be back in the car and off you'd go.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05But of course, you know, we knew we were breaking the law.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07We knew it was against the law.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Determined to keep up the pressure on Distillers,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16David Mason had resorted to this illegal poster campaign.
0:42:16 > 0:42:22But the originator of this idea had not been Mason himself.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24The poster campaign had been funded by someone
0:42:24 > 0:42:26who wanted to remain anonymous.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32None other than newspaper owner Rupert Murdoch.
0:42:33 > 0:42:40He generally felt there was a case of the big establishment company
0:42:40 > 0:42:43facing a lot of ordinary people.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46And he wanted to be on the side of the ordinary people.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Rupert Murdoch didn't play by
0:42:51 > 0:42:55the English rules of smoke-filled rooms and gentlemanly behaviour and,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58"We'll quietly censor that for you, members of the government."
0:42:58 > 0:43:01And, "We won't rock the boat with the big large corporations."
0:43:01 > 0:43:03He was the young Turk from Australia
0:43:03 > 0:43:06and he wanted to stick it to them. And he did.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Murdoch had secretly funded this national guerrilla campaign
0:43:13 > 0:43:16and, as well as Mason, there were people in England, Scotland
0:43:16 > 0:43:20and Wales putting up these posters that openly attacked Distillers.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27Then, Distillers faced pressure closer to home.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Now, their own shareholders were in revolt.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34Why is it only now that shareholders in the Distillers company
0:43:34 > 0:43:37have decided to do something about the thalidomide children?
0:43:37 > 0:43:42I think that we didn't realise the extent of the problem.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Of course, it's been sub judice for a long time, as you know.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50It's only recently that The Sunday Times have brought it
0:43:50 > 0:43:52to the public's notice.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55My initial feeling was that I must sell the shares,
0:43:55 > 0:43:59um, but my husband said, "I think that you can probably...
0:43:59 > 0:44:03"You'd be better off doing something as a shareholder."
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Sarah Broad became chair of a committee of shareholders
0:44:09 > 0:44:12who wanted to press Distillers to improve their offer.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17And very quickly, she found out they weren't alone.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26Other shareholders agreed and wrote pledging their support.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32It seemed that everyone now wanted Distillers
0:44:32 > 0:44:34to compensate the victims.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48After a sustained attack from angry parents, the national press,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Members of Parliament and now their own shareholders,
0:44:52 > 0:44:56Distillers proposed a new settlement.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58£12 million.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02But Jack Ashley and the others were holding out
0:45:02 > 0:45:03for a much larger figure.
0:45:06 > 0:45:07He had always said 20 million.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10In those days, that was an awful lot more money than it is now.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13He'd always thought 20 million was a fair amount and so, er,
0:45:13 > 0:45:15that's what he was fighting for.
0:45:15 > 0:45:21The £12 million offer was rejected. And the campaigners were determined
0:45:21 > 0:45:25to put greater pressure on Distillers.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Their focus would now be to hit Distillers where it hurt -
0:45:28 > 0:45:30their profits.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33They would call a boycott.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36They all got very excited about organising a boycott
0:45:36 > 0:45:39with Ralph Nader, the American consumer leader.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42At the time, they thought, if nothing else was going to work,
0:45:42 > 0:45:44then a boycott of all Distillers' products
0:45:44 > 0:45:47was something they were next going to fight very hard for.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49So I remember great excitement when they suddenly got
0:45:49 > 0:45:53the interest from America to join the fight with them.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57Ralph Nader was a rising star in American politics.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01In the mid-1960s, he had become a consumer rights champion
0:46:01 > 0:46:03and was the perfect figurehead
0:46:03 > 0:46:06for a potential boycott in the United States.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10'There's hardly a liquor store in the States which doesn't sell
0:46:10 > 0:46:13'at least one brand of spirits manufactured by Distillers.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15'Mr Nader has compiled a list of literally
0:46:15 > 0:46:18'hundreds of different groups and organisations,'
0:46:18 > 0:46:22all of which he says he could get involved in a massive boycott.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Determined to try and make the boycott a reality,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30David Mason flew to Washington to meet with Ralph Nader.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36And during the flight across the Atlantic,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Mason started a boycott of his own.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44I heard this announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47"the attendants will be going through the cabin.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50"We have Johnnie Walker's whisky and Gordon's gin and this and that."
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I sat bolt upright and I thought, "What?!"
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Here they are throwing this in my face.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I'm going over to boycott...
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Ah! I'm going over to boycott
0:47:00 > 0:47:03and they're trying to flog it on the plane.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05"Right!" So with that, I got up,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07I walked straight through, found the drinks trolley
0:47:07 > 0:47:11and I said, "Excuse me, I'm fighting a case against Distillers
0:47:11 > 0:47:13"and they make all these drinks.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16"And I've got a daughter who's got no arms and no legs,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19"because of their lack of drug testing.
0:47:19 > 0:47:26"May I ask you to choose any other drink apart from a Distillers drink?"
0:47:26 > 0:47:28"You bet you can. Fine! What else have you got?"
0:47:28 > 0:47:31So they were having all these other drinks.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33'Even before Mr Mason arrived in the States,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36'he'd been busy organising a mini boycott,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39'persuading passengers not to buy bottles of Distillers spirits.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41'He reported 100% success.'
0:47:42 > 0:47:45The threat of a boycott had captured the attention of the media
0:47:45 > 0:47:47on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Any drop in sales from a boycott
0:47:51 > 0:47:54had the potential to impact Distillers' profits.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57The definition of an effective boycott
0:47:57 > 0:48:02toward a company like Distillers, er, is one which would involve
0:48:02 > 0:48:07a diversion of 2-4% of sales, which would amount to millions of dollars.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14Talk of a boycott and the constant pressure in the media
0:48:14 > 0:48:17hit Distillers' share price.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21The board saw more than £9 million wiped off the value
0:48:21 > 0:48:24of the company's shares in just one week.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30It was then that Distillers proposed the offer
0:48:30 > 0:48:32that everyone had been holding out for.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36The firm which sold the thalidomide drug in Britain
0:48:36 > 0:48:38has offered to pay £20 million.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42It will go to more than 300 children born deformed, because their mothers
0:48:42 > 0:48:45took the drug on doctors' orders when they were pregnant.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49For all those who had fought in the campaign,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52their goal had finally been reached.
0:48:54 > 0:48:55We had it.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00We had everything, basically, that we'd fought for.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03My campaign over the past 12 months
0:49:03 > 0:49:05has taken us forward from £3.25 million
0:49:05 > 0:49:09to the sum that I've always striven for, namely 20 million.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13It was a very emotional day.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16I particularly remember
0:49:16 > 0:49:20I went down and had bacon and egg for breakfast,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24and Vicky broke the egg and...
0:49:24 > 0:49:27I mean, quite ridiculous, but it was a double yolk.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30A double yolk egg, which I had never one of those before.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37Everything had changed.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40And suddenly, you know, the world was a happier place.
0:49:44 > 0:49:50The thalidomiders really appreciate what David did on our behalf
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and our lives would not be what they are today
0:49:53 > 0:49:55without the work he had done.
0:49:55 > 0:50:01It transformed the thalidomiders', um, life for the last 50 years.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03And, for that, we have to salute him.
0:50:06 > 0:50:12He was a fighter and he was justified for doing what he did.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17He was my hero.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26In 1973, when the settlement was reached,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30the thalidomide children were becoming teenagers.
0:50:32 > 0:50:38£6 million of the settlement, worth over £60 million today,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40was distributed amongst the 370 families
0:50:40 > 0:50:43who had been fighting Distillers.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50The remainder would be used to create a trust that looked after
0:50:50 > 0:50:52every thalidomide child in the country.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57When the trust was set up, it had an impact on my life.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02I could buy my own wheelchair and gadgets I needed around the home.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06They also managed to buy my first car.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10So, they were... Yeah, life-changing.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13The compensation, no-one can deny, liberated them.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18It gave them cars, adapted cars, it gave them the adapted houses.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23It gave them abilities to learn and to have businesses
0:51:23 > 0:51:28and create an incredible world for themselves.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34The money also enabled the teenagers to enjoy some of the freedoms
0:51:34 > 0:51:37that others might have enjoyed.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40The trust started encouraging the children to drive.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43So, we have a very high number of our people now,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45whatever limbs they've got missing,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48are happily driving cars that are adapted for them.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55That was fantastic in terms of making us independent.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59I could go away on camping holidays with my friends or my sisters.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01It just gave me a huge amount
0:52:01 > 0:52:03of freedom and independence.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12There was a determination within the trust to encourage independence.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17The money allowed many of the teenagers to explore the world.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22The Thalidomide Trust decided that they would organise
0:52:22 > 0:52:27group holidays for us and they didn't just take us to the south coast.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31They decided to take us as far afield as places like America
0:52:31 > 0:52:33and Hawaii, which, for the time,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36was just an incredible experience to suddenly,
0:52:36 > 0:52:40at the age of 16 or 17 years old, be able to have a holiday
0:52:40 > 0:52:43with a whole group of people who were the same age as you.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46I often joke, saying, actually, we invented the 18-30s holidays
0:52:46 > 0:52:49because they were equivalent.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54It proved very, very good for the kids and it gave them the experience
0:52:54 > 0:52:58of being with one another and learning how others did things.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01And I am reliably informed that it gave them
0:53:01 > 0:53:05a very thorough education on matters like sex and the effects of alcohol,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08from which they've never looked back.
0:53:08 > 0:53:13As the money from the settlement was being put to good use,
0:53:13 > 0:53:18one of the campaigners was finding the return to everyday life
0:53:18 > 0:53:19difficult to adapt to.
0:53:20 > 0:53:26The mental anguish that I suffered after the campaign had ended
0:53:26 > 0:53:28was quite extraordinary.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30I went into a deep depression.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33I became very introspective. I wouldn't see anybody.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36People would come to see me, "No, I'm not here".
0:53:36 > 0:53:38"So-and-so on the phone." "No, no. I'm not here".
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Vicky was very worried.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44We'd come home into the house and if we were sitting down
0:53:44 > 0:53:49and the doorbell went, and friends had come round, I was up the stairs.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53All this was the price I paid for the campaign.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57My mind, to some degree, closed down on me.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08The thalidomide children have managed
0:54:08 > 0:54:11to exceed expectations throughout their lives.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15At the time of their birth, many in the medical community
0:54:15 > 0:54:18had not expected them to survive into adulthood.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27Over five decades on,
0:54:27 > 0:54:33there are 468 British thalidomide survivors alive today.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38And, for many, the focus now is on the last few decades of their lives.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43One thing that really worries me is the fact I'm getting older. I'm 52.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Sometimes, I feel like I'm 72.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49Sometimes, I'm literally in that much pain I can't move.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Whereas, a few years ago,
0:54:51 > 0:54:53I could get round on the floor really, really easily.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56And that's what worries me, that, sometime in the future,
0:54:56 > 0:54:58I won't be able to move around the way I do now
0:54:58 > 0:55:02and that I'll be stuck in my chair, you know, constantly.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05My fingers to do tend to get used...
0:55:05 > 0:55:08There's only three of them on each hand, so they tend to get used
0:55:08 > 0:55:11far more than if they there were five of them. And in ways that...
0:55:11 > 0:55:14I use my outside finger for grip. So, therefore,
0:55:14 > 0:55:18I put an enormous amount of strain on some of these outside joints.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22Actually, our people's bodies are now like somebody
0:55:22 > 0:55:26about 50% older than them. And where does that lead?
0:55:26 > 0:55:29So, if at 50, they have physical function
0:55:29 > 0:55:33on a par with the average 75-year-old,
0:55:33 > 0:55:36what's it going to be like for them in 10 or 20 years' time?
0:55:36 > 0:55:44Deep down, I don't think any of us believe we'll make it past our 70s.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Already, I've lost a lot of friends, um...
0:55:48 > 0:55:49So...
0:55:51 > 0:55:53The reality is, live life now,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56because we don't know how much longer we've got.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59But the rest of our lives that we have got,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01we want to make as comfortable as possible.
0:56:03 > 0:56:10In 1997, drinks giant Diageo acquired the Distillers brands.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13Since then, they have formed a close relationship
0:56:13 > 0:56:15with the Thalidomide Trust.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20In the past eight years, they have paid over £60 million
0:56:20 > 0:56:24into the trust and continue to provide financial assistance.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Today, there is a new battle.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34For campaigners like Nick Dobrik, their target now
0:56:34 > 0:56:39is Chemie Grunenthal, the German company which invented thalidomide.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44What we want Grunenthal to do is, on an annual basis,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47provide some assistance and relief for the thalidomiders
0:56:47 > 0:56:50over the next 25-30 years,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53so, in the last quarter of the thalidomiders' lives,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55they can live with dignity and independence.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58And I think that is the least we can expect from this company
0:56:58 > 0:57:01given the 50 years that we've been fighting this.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08I want to see justice finally done.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11Yeah, I'd like to see them admit liability.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15Not some mealy-mouthed apology, but admit liability and say,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19"Yeah, it was our fault you were born that way," cos they never have.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23Chemie Grunenthal denies it could have known
0:57:23 > 0:57:25about the side-effects of their drug,
0:57:25 > 0:57:30but has apologised for not responding fully to victims.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33They have made voluntary payments to German and other victims
0:57:33 > 0:57:39of thalidomide, but don't believe they have any liabilities in the UK.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41This has not stopped those in this country
0:57:41 > 0:57:44from pursuing them for compensation.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50I'm hoping for the same outcome as what my parents did originally.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52And that is for justice to be done,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56for Grunenthal to own up to what they've done.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58I don't think any of us are asking for the world,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01we just want justice and security.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08What gives that company the right to get away from this
0:58:08 > 0:58:11without admitting that it was wrong and it should have been prevented,
0:58:11 > 0:58:13that it didn't have to happen?
0:58:13 > 0:58:18I would just so like to hear that from them before my mum dies.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21You know, I'd like her to hear it herself
0:58:21 > 0:58:25that they're sorry for what they did and recognising
0:58:25 > 0:58:30the damage they've caused, not just to us, but to whole families.