The sole exponent of surrogate partner therapy in the UK in the 1970s was Dr. Martin Cole. Unkown to us, when Jane and I started our work in the UK it coincided with the stage in Martin’s life when he wanted to retire, but there was nobody to succeed him. If he had retired before finding a successor, surrogate partner therapy in the UK might have disappeared into oblivion. However, in 1994 my telephone rang; Dr Cole contacted me and told me how surprised and pleased he was to learn of our embryonic work in London. He handed the torch

“Do you use surrogates in your treatment programme?” At first, when such enquiries came in to the clinic I would dismiss the question, assuming that the person on the other end of the phone was a time-waster. Our clinic was simply above that sort of thing. Over a period of time, however, we received more and more calls of this type. I slowly, and reluctantly, began to take notice. What, or who, were surrogates, I wondered. How did surrogate partners work; how did they fit into an ethical programme for treating psychogenic sexual dysfunctions? I vaguely remembered reading about surrogate