Man with a 7 Second Memory Still Plays the Piano but Doesn't Know How | Only Human

Clive wearing has one of the worst cases of amnesia in the world I know it's like we did now they're not the same thing no difference between dreams and no sense at all of brain has been totally inactive no dreams and no thoughts of any kind whatever Clive was a renowned conductor living in London when he was struck down by a virus in 1985 parts of his brain were completely destroyed including his memory however his ability to play music is unaffected do you feel different when you play music I don't always like to play with you they are unconscious you played us some music about two minutes ago not known to me I never heard of nosey Clive's case became known to millions when a television documentary was made about him in 1986 alone and Confused in hospital without his memory the only person he recognized was his wife Deborah it's been long can you just tell me I faked consciousness for first time I just want to find what they play how they've been doing what's being wrong with me 20 years later clive only has a seven-second memory before his mind goes blank what has life been like for Clive and his family Debra is planning a momentous trip for Clive best pub in the come if you could go anywhere where would you like to go yeah no I see yes yesterday home is yesterday next Tuesday are we going I live in Redding I see yeah do you think you've ever been to writing yes I have been yes I mean cause everything is busy you could have gone when how it was studying yeah I didn't know you'd ever been there never mention reading no it's not been Justin's I have a moment of getting that yeah not a very interesting place No can you name a town in Berkshire no I can't I can't no door do you know where I live no guess I'm kinda kids with are no no reading oh really yeah spelt wrong as from a reading clive is going home for the first time in 13 years remember the number plate un 9 for 1 year and 9 for one back of another car remember the phone number when you forward she wants it forth remarkably Clive can still recall details from his childhood numbers embedded in his memory before he became ill there's another guest expected for lunch Clive's youngest son Edmund who has not seen his father for 7 years things that I used to do with my father always revolved around his work it was weird be either going to see going to places such as the British Museum for his research or we'd be going to concert venues or recording venues we would often end up in churches and he could walk into a church or a cathedral anywhere in Europe and read it like a book he had a vast amount of knowledge and that has just been wiped out it's been a difficult time today clive sister Adele has come to see him and I used to take his children to see him but he used to get pretty aggressive if he was very angry you know there was one occasion when I went to see him on my own and he he just when I said who I was he attacked me almost you know grabbed hold of me very aggressively and the staff came in and sort of calmed it down but he'd remembered me when I was younger he just said no you know you're too old like when how old do you think and he went off to see when he was fifteen years I went to the Merchant Navy yeah I used to go and visit him and it's just so difficult and and not easy to talk to him at all my husband we've got no connection with him found it much easier he could talk about things that totally irrelevant and quite happily carry on a conversation with him but I always found that extremely difficult thing to do do you remember Adele sitting next to me can you remember what she was wearing no never seen you're such human beings I've seen three of you two men and one lady the first piece people I've seen since Ivan no no difference in day and night no thoughts at all no dreams day and night that same blanket precisely death is it very hard no exactly the same as being dead which is not difficult was it we did it's easy you don't do anything at all I can't do anything you're dead it's been the same exactly yes I've never been conscious to think that so I've never been bored or upset no be anything same as death no dreams even day and night the same when you miss your old life you say yes I miss my old life what do you miss as a musician and in love you'll say things like do you know what it's like and that's really dangerous because if you actually did I said yes so at once because I was just saying yesterday that was disastrous and then I said that again scene why because he says you don't know what it's like how do you know because he's right isn't he yes there's no way you're gonna know what it's like got some fight in him oh yeah yeah but that's the thing is probably 3/4 of his personality's still there functioning normally he will analyse what's happened he said well the doctors must be very interested in this you know it's very unusual case he worked it all out over and over again because he doesn't really remember that he worked it out an hour ago Deborah's done more for dad than any other single person I very much doubt that I could have done that for him and that's hot that's very hot I think I'd have given up I would like to say when it was I really can't remember it's too hard I wanted him to walk me down the aisle when I got married and he couldn't I wanted him to know that I'd had his grandchildren but he couldn't so he's he's a lovely person he's he's Clive now that's gone considering he's still one of the most amnesia people in the world he's pretty peaceful considering he doesn't know where he is or what century it is oh well what time he got up that morning or or that he's in a place where he lives considering all of that his state of mind is extraordinarily calm happy content and very much himself he's himself if you could do anything now if you had free choice what would you do next I would Jim Thomas a cigarette then of course waiting for time to allude and disappear and her arrival

Channel: Only Human

Views: 145,247

Keywords: prisoner of consciousness, prisoner of consciousness documentary, Man with a 7 Second Memory, virus affecting memory, only human documentary, only human doctor in the house, only human documentary channel 4, spectacular people, pianist who lost his memory, spectacular people only human, memory loss causes, stories about memory loss, dementia stages, alzheimers disease documentary, 7 second memory

Id: SO-3Ruw61Sg

Length: 11min 20sec (680 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 02 2018