Just managed to squeeze into the ’61 Reunion by dint of having qualified early with the Conjoint exam in November 1961. I was impatient to get on with my career, however a very difficult first marriage threw a spanner in the works. My original plan was to train in General Surgery, but as my first wife was very good at producing children, yet incapable of caring for them (due to illness rather than wanton neglect), I found my domestic commitments were very demanding.
I therefore opted for an Academic career in Morbid Anatomy and Diagnostic Histopathology and Roy Weller, who was already in the department of Pathology at Guy’s helped to facilitate my appointment there. Despite the “Morbid” title it proved to be a very happy department, mainly because Prof Colin Adams managed it with a very light touch; (he did not come in very often).
After a few months Roy suggested that we should take an interest in the renal biopsy material that was being submitted to the department by Stewart Cameron and the Renal unit (which was soon to attract Chisolm Ogg). We used light, electron and immunofluorescence microscopy initially and combined the anatomical and immunological data together with clinical data from Stewart Cameron and his team to study the natural history of the different patterns of glomerular disease. A large number of publications were prepared under joint authorship but with Stewart being the major driving force.
In 1976 I was lucky enough to be appointed as “Rapporteur” (glorified secretary) to the International WHO Committee for Classification and Nomenclature of Renal Diseases. This appointment involved co-operating in a series of international studies and attending lots of meetings in nice places and ultimately co-authoring several books on various aspects of renal pathology.
By 1981 I had obtained a divorce from my first wife. I decided I needed a break from the academic scene and accepted a post as an NHS Pathologist in Taunton and was delighted to re-new acquaintance with both Bill Bunting and Nigel Knight who were well established there. I was also fortunate to persuade Juliet Heaton, who had originally helped me a great deal with the renal work at Guy’s and had been appointed Senior Lecturer, to accompany me. I even managed to persuade her to marry me but she insisted on maintaining a degree of independence by keeping her maiden name. When Juliet and I arrived at Musgrove Park Hospital the department was very run down, as the previous incumbent had lost interest in his work and taken to drink. The department needed a complete re-vamp so we set to. I was delighted to discover that both Nigel Knight and Bill Bunting were well established Consultants there.
After about nine months things were running very smoothly and I realised I would need a bigger challenge. I applied for the chair of Pathology in Nottingham which was soon to become vacant. “Oh beware what you wish for!” It proved to be a bit of a poisoned chalice. The department was supposed to be an integrated NHS and University department but was virtually in anarchy. Fortunately by dint much hard work and sheer determination the department was gradually turned round and became an excellent training centre producing the current President of the Royal College of Pathology, Peter Furness, the present Dean of Nottingham Medical School and Professor of Neuropathology, Jim Lowe and Professor Ian Ellis an International Expert in Breast Disease and many other highly competent Pathologists.
Although I enjoyed the basic work of running the department, I found the University and Hospital politics created a lot of stress. Others noted that my hair turned white during this period and I became aware that my blood pressure reached astronomical levels on occasion. I therefore decided to take up marathon running as a “gentle pastime”. Once I had a reasonable level of training I could run on auto-pilot and achieve an almost transcendental state of relaxation. I managed to complete the London Marathon in less than 3hrs and ran another dozen or so in various countries. The most enjoyable was in France near Bordeaux where there were 18 wine tasting points and a long row of ambulances waiting at the finish for any runners who had “too much blood in their alcohol stream”!
After 15yrs in Nottingham, by which time the department was going well and had doubled in size, I decided to take early retirement. I was not sure what I was going to do in retirement but soon found I was being asked to provide support for pathology departments in difficulty in the West Country where Juliet and I had already bought an old thatched farmhouse “in need of restoration” in a remote Devon valley.
It was in the middle of this phase that I decided to take up flying a small plane. I managed to get my private pilot’s licence quite quickly but was still doing what I thought were some rather untidy landings which surprisingly did not seem to deter passengers. Juliet who is not keen on flying came up with me on three occasions but on the last of these we encountered some quite severe turbulence. After that she flatly refused to go in “that thing” ever again! I did however fly quite extensively in England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In the course of these adventures I did do quite a lot of flying on instruments when visibility was poor or worse. This was much more demanding than visual flying but was a challenge that I was keen to battle with.
Virtually full retirement in the last 3 years includes managing and maintaining a small estate which takes up most of my time. Juliet and I have six children between us and eleven grandchildren with one more on the way, so we are often involved with one or other of them. Juliet and I still share many common interests and try to help each other get the best out of retirement. I am still hoping to run at least one more marathon before I hang up my trainers! My plane was destroyed in an accident while it was parked up at the local airfield in May this year. Oddly enough I had thought of selling it soon anyway as the cost of fuel is getting so expensive. Otherwise, reading and frequent visits to the Theatre Royal in Bath are important.
Looking forward to September 9th.
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