Meet Catherine of Siena. This Tilda Swinton lookalike lived in the 14th century and, three times a day, she whipped herself with chains for an hour and a half. She managed to reduce her sleeping to about 90 minutes every other day. And of course, being so saintly, she slept on a wooden board. Her diet was also strange. She was famous for eating only a spoonful of herbs a day (and communion, of ... Read More

 The face of anorexia is not a glossy model in a perfume ad. It’s a starving animal, circling the empty cupboards, blank-eyed and vacant. It’s a face frozen in a rictus grin, mouthing lies. ‘I’m fine,’ it says. ‘Everything is under control.’ ‘I have always felt hungry,’ says Emma Scrivener. ‘Not just for food, but for everything: from ... Read More

Growing up I was always a ‘good girl’.  My brother still jokes that he got the looks, my sister got the brains and I got the morals. Who’s the one you’d most like to take to a party, eh? Well ‘good girl’ worked for me.  I was bright, sensitive and a perfectionist. I hated letting people down – and it was really important to me that when I did things I did them ... Read More