Charles grew up with his father working on the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. As a child he remembers seeing many scientists, including Albert Einstein arrive to their family home to speak to his father. Charles later went on to study Psychology at Princeton where he interacted with Albert Einstein further while catching the bus together. During his time at Princeton as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Harvard, he took LSD with Timothy Leary. He was amongst the first to experiment with LSD and as a result became addicted. In 1976, clean and sober in 12-Step programs, he migrated to Australia to start a new life. Until recently, he and his wife, Sue, were co-pastors of the Green Head Christian Fellowship, 300km north of Perth. Charles is now retired and has been abstinent from drugs and alcohol for over 37 years.