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I first met Bob in the late 1960s after I had returned to work at the then Family Discussion Bureau (FDB) following having my children. Bob was subsequently appointed as a fellow staff member. Bob had already done the FDB Home Office Fellowship, with Elspeth (later his wife) in the early 1960s.
I recognised a robust, determined, direct man, very interested in writing and in developing theory and clinical skills, and a social worker in his bones. We shared cases together, and fought together, until our boss, Douglas Woodhouse, pointed out that we were a perfect reflection of the warring couple we were treating. We also enjoyed together the many parties, which the FDB (and the Institute of Marital Studies (IMS), as it later became) was so good at. As a co-therapy partner, Bob was a very convinced, unwavering exponent of the primacy and usefulness of couple therapy.
After University, Bob worked as a Probation Officer for seventeen years, where he was introduced to psychoanalytic thinking by Dr Hyatt Williams. In the 1970s, Bob became the pioneering head of a new social work training at Hatfield Polytechnic, a course that he had designed and that was the first in the country to combine an honours degree with a professional