He left university and joined the Friends Ambulance Unit. While working there, he was struck down by severe Ankylosing Spondylitis, and was unable to walk without the aid of a stick for the rest of his life. Initial treatment required an 18-month stay in hospital, and it was during this enforced period of immobility that his energies turned inwards towards the two areas of study which were to occupy him for the rest of his life: philosophy and astrology (he had been interested in both from his mid-teens). He studied with the Faculty of Astrological Studies and was awarded his Diploma in the early fifties.