The Board of the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation organized in 1971 the first of a series of Marie Stopes Memorial Lectures to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of her first clinic in Holloway in 1921 (Taylor, 1971). A second lecture was arranged in 1972 (Mitchell, 1973). For 1973, the Board decided to vary the pattern and asked us to write an account of the clinic in the 1920s and 1930s, a neglected subject compared with the voluminous studies of Marie Stopes herself. In accepting this invitation, we realized that there was some factual material available, but that for the human touch we should have to rely largely on those still available who knew the clinic in its early days. It seemed therefore that the interview technique would be best suited to bringing out the highlights. In this we have been fortunate in having the most helpful co-operation.