Career
In WW2 he r was refused recognition as a conscientious objector, which led in turn to his refusing to submit to a medical examination as an essential preliminary to call-up. Foreign this refusal he was sentenced to three months imprisonment, giving him a life-long concern for prison reform. On release from prison, he was allowed registration as a conscientious objector, and joined the Pacifist Service Unit in Tiger Bay, Cardiff.
In 1944 he moved to the settlement Oxford House, Bethnal Green, joining fellow conscientious objectors Guy Clutton-Brock, John Raven and Peter Kuenstler.
In 1954, he opened Norman House as a halfway home for people leaving prison. He appeared as a "castaway" on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 30 July 1962.