I Swear - My Life with Tourette's

The remarkable true story of the UK''s most prominent ambassador for Tourette''s Syndrome. How a normal football-mad, working class 12-year-old boy developed tics which fast became an extreme form Tourette''s Syndrome - involuntary movement, barking and yelping, swearing: often giving voice to the worst possible thing you could imagine saying. No-one understood the condition in 1980s Galashiels and John''s behaviour split his family; he was expelled from school, over-medicated in hospital, and left home at 17. A friend''s mother took him in, helped him find a flat, a job, and ultimately his vocation educating others. John was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Holyrood Palace. His story ends with the discovery of potential treatment for what is an incurable condition.>

About the author

John Davidson MBE was born in 1971 in Galashiels. After leaving school without qualifications, he began work as a caretaker at Langlee Community Centre in Galashiels, where since 2002 he has also been a part-time youth worker.
Aged sixteen, John was the subject of a BBC documentary, John’s Not Mad, about living with Tourette’s Syndrome, and he has since been an ambassador for the condition, giving talks and workshops in schools and to the police, and running residential camps for young people with Tourette’s. Since 1989 he has featured in several follow-up documentaries; Kirk Jones’s 2025 film I Swear is based on John’s life.
In 2019 John joined the board of Tourette Scotland and was awarded an MBE in recognition of ‘his efforts to increase understanding of the condition and helping families deal with it across the country’. He has also gained international recognition for his online support for families all over the world.

Product details

• Authors: John Davidson
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 21.08.2025
• EAN: 9781529961850
• ISBN: 978-1-5299-6185-0
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 138 mm x 222 mm x 40 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Biographies, autobiographies; Autobiography: general, Memoirs, MEDICAL / Neurology, Mental health services, Neurology and clinical neurophysiology, Autobiography: science, technology and medicine, HEALTH & FITNESS / Diseases & Conditions / General, Coping with / advice about neurodevelopmental issues, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Medical (inc Patients), BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Disability