The Alexander Technique is a method of muscular re-education which has become standard training for actors dancers & singers & is practised for health reasons all over the world Its founder Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) was an Australian actor who stumbled upon it in the 1890s after studying himself in mirrors to discover why he had lost his voice He realised that most people suffered from the same postural defects he had noticed in himself & that this explained much of what went wrong with them FM (as he was known) came to London in 1904 & became enormously successful During the First World War he practised in America with equal success converting the American philosopher John Dewey to his cause He wrote four books (all still in print) & his supporters included Aldous Huxley George Bernard Shaw & Stafford Cripps He was however a difficult & argumentative man who made enemies Towards the end of his life he embarked on a libel action against the South African government which had accused him of charlatanism He won & went on practising & propagating his technique until his death aged 86