First of all, “Robert” is Frederic Lamond, one of Gerald Gardner’s early coveners—his mundane name is not exactly oathbound material these days, now that he has written books and has his own Wikipedia page.
But this screenshot is from the documentary Robert: Portrait of a Witch, made by Malcolmn Brenner in 1991 and now transferred from VHS to digital video and put on YouTube by Valdosta State University as part of their New Age Movements, Occultism, and Spiritualism Research Library.
Lamond joined the Craft when he was in his mid-twenties. He later went on to a career in finance — “in the City” as the British would say, the equivalent to “on Wall Street” for an American.
He was also a key resource for the American scholar of Wiccan history Aidan Kelly in writing Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion.
Sit back: there is lots here on Gardnerian Wicca in the 1950s, Gardner’s own lack of charisma by religious-leader standards and his puckish sense of humor, why the North American Gardnerians went wrong in trying to enshrine one Book of Shadows, and Lamond’s own thoughts on how patriarchal monotheism came to dominate the world.
It was really just a stroke of good luck that this tape got made! Thanks to the technicians and volunteer crew at Portland Cable Access, where this was recorded lo these many years ago. I don’t even remember how I was introduced to Robert, but I think this interview is rather historic, and I’m glad it got made.