How Hofmann’s LSD helped Cary Grant

Albert Hofmann (pictured), the inventor of LSD and the first person in the world to experience a full-blown acid trip, died on Tuesday. The reclusive Swiss scientist, who was 102, was interviewed by The First Post in January 2006, when he claimed that the hallucinogenic drug could be beneficial for mankind. "LSD has phenomenal power to do good," he told William Langley, who tracked him down to his home on a remote Swiss hilltop.

Dr Hofmann's belief that LSD held the key to the human psyche, and certainly had properties beyond those generally acknowledged, was reinforced when he showed Langley a letter of thanks he had received from actor Cary Grant.

The Hollywood heartthrob credited the drug with "curing" him of "homosexual tendencies", and said it had been instrumental in allowing him to make love "adequately" to his wife.