From www.assistnews.net - by permission
TONGUE TIED, DYSLEXIC AND UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD
How Robert Hicks taught himself to read by copying out of the 1611 Bible and then founded a range of a publishing firms and became a successful businessman
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
BATH, UK (ANS) -- The incredible life of Robert Hicks began in 1941 during a bombing raid in Birmingham, England, as Adolf Hitler tried to reduce the countrys main industrial city to rubble. But it wasnt Hitler, but his parents, he says, who reduced his life to rubble! (Pictured: Robert today).
I was a street urchin who ran wild, unable to speak, write or read, he said. I was ignored by my mother, who eventually deserted the family and was severely ill-treated by my father. In effect, I was a slave to the whims of my father until the age of 15.
He went on to say, When I left school, the headmaster (principal) told me that I was a waste. I got a job as an errand boy for a family grocery business and was seen by many as a shy withdrawn idiot. (Pictured: A flyer for two of his recent books).
Nut surprisingly, Robert Hicks left school tongue tied, dyslexic and with no confidence in speaking
While working in grocery shop, an ex-nurse (Mrs. Siddall) discovered the cause of my speech problem, he went on to say. Within weeks, a simple operation took place in front of medical students at a local hospital. However, I was embarrassed because the surgeon asked me to recite the letters of the alphabet and he could not.
After the operation, the surgeon encouraged me to take elocution lessons and also to write out a book by hand, reading the words aloud. Fanatically, I searched the house for a book. Eventually, I found an old Bible next to the dreaded army belt of my father. The Bible translation was already 360 years old (1611 King James).
I was determined to learn to read, write and speak that I began to copy out the Bible and within a few months I improved noticeably. It took me two years to complete the task and through that, I not only learned to read and write, but I also found Jesus Christ as my personal savior.
Roberts love for books and literature took off, when he discovered a second-hand bookshop in Cotteridge, Birmingham, called Treasure Trove. With the education as an apprentice alongside reading second-hand books on all subjects: history, astronomy, world culture, philosophy an all-round self-education was developed.
Robert's story is both harrowing and uplifting when you consider the terrible depths from which he came and the heights to which he climbed in his adult life which included an incredible rise in retailing, he concluded as the Marketing Director of 110 retail shops as well as opening the first hypermarket in the UK.
Visiting a supermarket in the Wirral, Cheshire, he told British TV personality, Esther Rantzen, that this was the very site of the hyper-market that he opened 30 years ago.
So we have to see the jump from being the errant boy who couldnt read or write, to having the confidence and someone placing the confidence in me to be responsible in opening the very first hyper-market in the United Kingdom, he told her. (Pictured: The young Robert at grocery shop counter).
Robert then spoke about his great love for books. He said although he learned to read from the Bible, he didnt just stop with the Bible, adding, But the Bible is still to me the most important book for me.
Because of his love for books and the Bible, Robert left retailing at the height of his career and changed direction into publishing. (Pictured: Robert at desk).
Over the past 25 years, he has developed a range of Publishing Companies, including some with his two sons Andrew and Peter.
Robert married Joyce in his early 20s and they had four children: Andrew, Peter, Julia and Joanna and now has 14 grandchildren. Robert and Joyce also fostered many children in need of a home, love and confidence.
Sadly, after a long fight with cancer, Joyce passed away in her mid-40s.
At the time of Joyces illness, Robert and Joyce looked after various cancer sufferers over an 18-month period. All of them died. Soon afterwards Roberts brother Donald also died, and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Robert is happily remarried to Annabelle and had the surprise joy of another daughter, Emily-Rose who is now nine.
Beside the secular publishing companies, Robert has been involved in sponsoring and supporting Bible and Gospel initiatives throughout the world, including nearly 1 million full-color New Testaments going from West to Eastern Germany after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, as well as millions of Millennium Gospels being distributed by over 100,000 Christians through 10,000 churches reaching 25% of all UK homes.
In all, over 100 million Bible Gospels and Bible Selections have circulated the globe.
A recent joy for Robert and Annabelle with Emily-Rose was to visit Buckingham Palace to present a Bible for Her Majestys Jubilee. The Bible was the same text that Robert had copied out by hand 45 years earlier, but now completely redesigned.
The big venture Robert is involved in at this moment is to develop a range of user-friendly English dictionaries, specially designed for people who suffer with dyslexia, slow learning, poor spellers and those who learn English as a second language.
For this purpose The English Trust has been established and instead of dividends going to Shareholders, they will go into a Trust to help disadvantaged young people progress with University and higher education.
Robert says he was inspired to this venture over a meal with Professor Michael Stirling of Birmingham University.
An oil painting of Robert by the distinguished portraiture, Henry Mee, now hangs in the Library at Birmingham University an appropriate symbol to inspire students and encourage staff of what can become of a boy who is dyslexic, was tongue-tied and left school unable to read, write or speak, or even recite the letters of the alphabet.
ATTRACTED TO JESUS
When asked how he had turned his life around from such a difficult childhood, he told Esther Rantzen, If I could find the answer to that you and I could write up a prescription for that and give it to all these poor people who are suffering because of their childhood.
"There are a few pointers. This doesnt work for everybody, but it does for me. Definitely, I was attracted to Jesus. I dont want anyone to get the wrong idea that I am a balanced individual. I love people of faiths and difference denominations within the church; so I dont have a closed mind on this. But I was attracted to Jesus. (Pictured: Robert with his beloved Bible).
I was damaged and I am still damaged, but it is just diluted. Jesus is the patron saint of children. Thats a nice way of putting it. He made it very clear that anyone who hurts a child is in for it, both in this life and in the next life. Jesus was pro children. He said, Suffer the little children to come unto me for as such is the Kingdom of God.
Robert has been keeping us busy this by writing two autobiographical books: A Child Cries and The Miracle Book.
After taping the program, Esther Rantzen said, During all the years Ive spent making programs, Ive been particularly interested in the stories of people whove had very tough childhoods; deprived childhoods, sometimes painful ones filled with abuse; and yet have managed to turn their lives around. But of all these stories, the most extraordinary, the most inspirational was the story of Robert Hicks.
It is these elements, and other amazing events in the story of Robert Hicks that persuaded John Forrest, a TV producer of BBC fame, to produce the short video in the hope that someone will want to film the full story of Roberts amazing life.
TONGUE TIED, DYSLEXIC AND UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD
How Robert Hicks taught himself to read by copying out of the 1611 Bible and then founded a range of a publishing firms and became a successful businessman
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
BATH, UK (ANS) -- The incredible life of Robert Hicks began in 1941 during a bombing raid in Birmingham, England, as Adolf Hitler tried to reduce the countrys main industrial city to rubble. But it wasnt Hitler, but his parents, he says, who reduced his life to rubble! (Pictured: Robert today).
I was a street urchin who ran wild, unable to speak, write or read, he said. I was ignored by my mother, who eventually deserted the family and was severely ill-treated by my father. In effect, I was a slave to the whims of my father until the age of 15.
He went on to say, When I left school, the headmaster (principal) told me that I was a waste. I got a job as an errand boy for a family grocery business and was seen by many as a shy withdrawn idiot. (Pictured: A flyer for two of his recent books).
Nut surprisingly, Robert Hicks left school tongue tied, dyslexic and with no confidence in speaking
While working in grocery shop, an ex-nurse (Mrs. Siddall) discovered the cause of my speech problem, he went on to say. Within weeks, a simple operation took place in front of medical students at a local hospital. However, I was embarrassed because the surgeon asked me to recite the letters of the alphabet and he could not.
After the operation, the surgeon encouraged me to take elocution lessons and also to write out a book by hand, reading the words aloud. Fanatically, I searched the house for a book. Eventually, I found an old Bible next to the dreaded army belt of my father. The Bible translation was already 360 years old (1611 King James).
I was determined to learn to read, write and speak that I began to copy out the Bible and within a few months I improved noticeably. It took me two years to complete the task and through that, I not only learned to read and write, but I also found Jesus Christ as my personal savior.
Roberts love for books and literature took off, when he discovered a second-hand bookshop in Cotteridge, Birmingham, called Treasure Trove. With the education as an apprentice alongside reading second-hand books on all subjects: history, astronomy, world culture, philosophy an all-round self-education was developed.
Robert's story is both harrowing and uplifting when you consider the terrible depths from which he came and the heights to which he climbed in his adult life which included an incredible rise in retailing, he concluded as the Marketing Director of 110 retail shops as well as opening the first hypermarket in the UK.
Visiting a supermarket in the Wirral, Cheshire, he told British TV personality, Esther Rantzen, that this was the very site of the hyper-market that he opened 30 years ago.
So we have to see the jump from being the errant boy who couldnt read or write, to having the confidence and someone placing the confidence in me to be responsible in opening the very first hyper-market in the United Kingdom, he told her. (Pictured: The young Robert at grocery shop counter).
Robert then spoke about his great love for books. He said although he learned to read from the Bible, he didnt just stop with the Bible, adding, But the Bible is still to me the most important book for me.
Because of his love for books and the Bible, Robert left retailing at the height of his career and changed direction into publishing. (Pictured: Robert at desk).
Over the past 25 years, he has developed a range of Publishing Companies, including some with his two sons Andrew and Peter.
Robert married Joyce in his early 20s and they had four children: Andrew, Peter, Julia and Joanna and now has 14 grandchildren. Robert and Joyce also fostered many children in need of a home, love and confidence.
Sadly, after a long fight with cancer, Joyce passed away in her mid-40s.
At the time of Joyces illness, Robert and Joyce looked after various cancer sufferers over an 18-month period. All of them died. Soon afterwards Roberts brother Donald also died, and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Robert is happily remarried to Annabelle and had the surprise joy of another daughter, Emily-Rose who is now nine.
Beside the secular publishing companies, Robert has been involved in sponsoring and supporting Bible and Gospel initiatives throughout the world, including nearly 1 million full-color New Testaments going from West to Eastern Germany after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, as well as millions of Millennium Gospels being distributed by over 100,000 Christians through 10,000 churches reaching 25% of all UK homes.
In all, over 100 million Bible Gospels and Bible Selections have circulated the globe.
A recent joy for Robert and Annabelle with Emily-Rose was to visit Buckingham Palace to present a Bible for Her Majestys Jubilee. The Bible was the same text that Robert had copied out by hand 45 years earlier, but now completely redesigned.
The big venture Robert is involved in at this moment is to develop a range of user-friendly English dictionaries, specially designed for people who suffer with dyslexia, slow learning, poor spellers and those who learn English as a second language.
For this purpose The English Trust has been established and instead of dividends going to Shareholders, they will go into a Trust to help disadvantaged young people progress with University and higher education.
Robert says he was inspired to this venture over a meal with Professor Michael Stirling of Birmingham University.
An oil painting of Robert by the distinguished portraiture, Henry Mee, now hangs in the Library at Birmingham University an appropriate symbol to inspire students and encourage staff of what can become of a boy who is dyslexic, was tongue-tied and left school unable to read, write or speak, or even recite the letters of the alphabet.
ATTRACTED TO JESUS
When asked how he had turned his life around from such a difficult childhood, he told Esther Rantzen, If I could find the answer to that you and I could write up a prescription for that and give it to all these poor people who are suffering because of their childhood.
"There are a few pointers. This doesnt work for everybody, but it does for me. Definitely, I was attracted to Jesus. I dont want anyone to get the wrong idea that I am a balanced individual. I love people of faiths and difference denominations within the church; so I dont have a closed mind on this. But I was attracted to Jesus. (Pictured: Robert with his beloved Bible).
I was damaged and I am still damaged, but it is just diluted. Jesus is the patron saint of children. Thats a nice way of putting it. He made it very clear that anyone who hurts a child is in for it, both in this life and in the next life. Jesus was pro children. He said, Suffer the little children to come unto me for as such is the Kingdom of God.
Robert has been keeping us busy this by writing two autobiographical books: A Child Cries and The Miracle Book.
After taping the program, Esther Rantzen said, During all the years Ive spent making programs, Ive been particularly interested in the stories of people whove had very tough childhoods; deprived childhoods, sometimes painful ones filled with abuse; and yet have managed to turn their lives around. But of all these stories, the most extraordinary, the most inspirational was the story of Robert Hicks.
It is these elements, and other amazing events in the story of Robert Hicks that persuaded John Forrest, a TV producer of BBC fame, to produce the short video in the hope that someone will want to film the full story of Roberts amazing life.
