Search Results for newman, philip

First Title value, for Searching Newman, Philip Harker (1911 - 1995)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008200-E008299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380410380410
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Philip Newman was born in Dovercourt, Essex, on 22 June 1911, the son of a civil servant, John Harker Newman, and his wife Violet Grace, née Williams. He was educated at Cranleigh School and at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London University, where he qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1934. In his undergraduate years he obtained the Senior Broderip scholarship and the second year exhibition. He also worked as a demonstrator in the anatomy school. He obtained his Fellowship in 1938. While still a registrar at the Middlesex he joined the supplementary reserve of officers and, as a result, was posted to the 12th Casualty Clearing Station which was sent to France in 1940. In May 1940 the unit was at Béthune and the work load was so heavy that the medical officers disobeyed the order to withdraw. Eventually the doctors were compelled to draw lots to determine who would be evacuated and who would stay with the prisoners. Newman drew the short straw and was taken prisoner. He made several attempts to escape, was recaptured, and punished with solitary confinement. In 1942 the Germans agreed to repatriate some of the severely wounded, then changed their mind and ordered the convoy back to Germany from Rouen. Newman, who was the medical officer delegated to accompany the wounded, and a companion, hid under the train. After many hardships he met a member of the French Resistance and was put on the 'Pat line' which was an escape route set up by a Belgian doctor. In the final stages of his escape he was accompanied by Airey Neave. He was awarded the DSO for services at the evacuation of Dunkirk and after his escape to England he received the MC. After the war Newman was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. In 1962 he operated on Sir Winston Churchill who had broken his left leg in Monte Carlo. He was appointed a Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1954. The subject of his lecture was spondylolisthesis. Many of his contributions to the specialty were concerned with the effect of disease of the spine on the body as a whole. He was Chairman of the Council and of the editorial board of the *Journal of bone and joint surgery* and in 1976 was elected President of the British Orthopaedic Association. He was Francis Fouché lecturer at the South African College of Medicine in 1975 and on retirement in 1976 was appointed CBE. In his retirement he wrote his account of the events surrounding the evacuation of Dunkirk, published as *Safer than a known way* in 1983. Outside his professional interests, Newman was a keen yachtsman, and in his retirement devoted himself to golf in particular. He married Elizabeth Anne Basset, a nurse, in 1943, and they had two sons and a daughter. He died on 31 December 1995.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008227
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Crabtree, Stephen David (1944 - 2001)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008500-E008599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380719380719
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Stephen Crabtree's father Ronald Hartley Crabtree was a wool merchant in Wyke, Bradford, where he was born on 27 January 1944. His mother was Annie Victoria née Holmes. He was educated at Denstone College and Selwyn College, Cambridge, from which he went to the Middlesex Hospital for his clinical studies. After qualifying, he did junior posts at the Middlesex, Addenbrooke's and Orpington, before returning to complete his orthopaedic training at the Middlesex under Philip Newman and Rodney (later Sir Rodney) Sweetnam, and at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. He was appointed consultant to Greenwich District Hospital, moving to the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2001. He organised the south east orthopaedic training circuit for some years and took a keen interest in the training of the junior staff. He was Chairman of the Greenwich and Bexley division of the BMA from 1987 to 1988. He was a quiet, unassuming, conscientious man and a talented musician and organist. He married Jane Bech Hansen in 1969. They had two children, Anna and Christopher. He died from cancer of the colon on 7 September 2001.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008536
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kerr, Philip Robert Neil (1921 - 1994)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380308380308
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Philip Kerr was born on 22 February 1921, the son of Dugald Kerr, a Scottish civil engineer, and Charlotte Annie, née Tasker. He was educated at Oundle, where he won many prizes, and at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1943 and served as a medical officer in the RAF in Western Europe towards the end of hostilities. After the war he was appointed casualty officer at St Thomas's Hospital and worked with Victor Bonney. After becoming an orthopaedic senior registrar he worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Bournemouth and then at the Middlesex Hospital in London, where he trained with Philip Wiles and Philip Newman before being appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. He subsequently published several papers on accident and emergency surgery following his experience with accidents on the newly opened M1 motorway in Hertfordshire. Outside surgery, his main interests lay in sailing, skiing and rally driving. He was a congenial man with a good sense of humour, and he made friends easily. He married Patricia Isobel (Pip) Pawsey in 1956 and they had three children: Gregor, who became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Northampton, Lorna, a consultant anaesthetist in Norwich and Verena, a financier. He died on 23 October 1994 in Welwyn after a long illness due to Parkinson's disease, which he bore with patience and fortitude. He was survived by his wife and children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008125
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Liddell, William Alan (1921 - 1986)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379608379608
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details William Alan Liddell was born in Herbert, New Zealand, in 1921, the son of a doctor who had graduated in Edinburgh. He attended Waitaki Boys' High School before entering Otago Medical School, from which he graduated in 1945. During his student years he was awarded a blue for tennis and after qualifying took up house appointments at New Plymouth and Timaru before coming to Britain to study for the FRCS, which he obtained in 1949. While working for this examination he held a resident post at the Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith where he met his wife Peggy who was being trained as a radiotherapist. He then started his orthopaedic training working at the Royal National Orthopaeduc Hospital under Professor H J Seddon, Philip Newman, Jip James and David Trevor. After his return to New Zealand he passed the FRACS in 1954 and was resident surgeon at Wellington Hospital for two years before being appointed orthopaedic surgeon to Christchurch Hospital. Although his work covered the whole of orthopaedics, his main interest was in spinal disabilities and hip surgery. Together with Bill Utley and John Cunningham the first spinal injuries unit in New Zealand was opened in the late 1950s. He was involved in the establishment of the Canterbury Paraplegic Association and worked in the disabled sporting scene as medical advisor to the paraplegic Olympics. He was elected President of the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association and attended the combined meeting of the English speaking orthopaedic associations in London in 1976. At the conclusion of this meeting the presidents of the orthopaedic associations were invited to Birkhall by the Queen Mother where they were presented with a symbolic sculpture of the Tree of Andry. His main recreations were tennis and golf. In 1987 he had a heart attack which was followed by heart surgery in Auckland. Despite failing health he continued to practice until his death at Christchurch on 18 October 1986. He is survived by his wife and four children, two daughters having graduated in medicine.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007425
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Harris, Nigel Henry (1924 - 2007)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372712372712
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Nigel Harris was respected in the orthopaedic world, particularly for his participation in British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) conferences, where his pertinent questions often brought meetings to life. He had outspoken views on medico-social and medico-political issues and wrote many letters to *The Times* in defence of the interests of patients and the freedom of the NHS from political interference. Nigel Harris was born in Grimsby on 24 November 1924, the eldest son of Archibald Harris, a general practitioner. His mother was Lily Nove. He was educated at the Perse School, where he shone at athletics and cricket, and on one occasion when the school entertained a visiting Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team, he stumped the mighty Jack Hobbs. From Perse he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and then to the Middlesex Hospital for his clinical training. He qualified in 1948 and completed house jobs in the orthopaedic department at the Middlesex and the North Middlesex Hospital, where he was greatly influenced by Philip Wiles and Philip Newman. He then served in the RAF, reaching the rank of squadron leader, and was involved in the Berlin Air Lift of 1949, during which on one occasion he wandered by mistake into the Russian sector and narrowly escaped capture. On completing his training in orthopaedics he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital in 1964. He published on osteomyelitis, congenital dislocation of the hip and osteoarthritis, and was one of the first to replace hips and knees. He contributed chapters to *Clinical surgery* and edited the *Postgraduate textbook of clinical orthopaedics* (Bristol, Wright, 1983, second edition: Oxford, Blackwell Science, 1995). Having had experience as a house surgeon in the athletes’ clinic which had been set up at the Middlesex Hospital for the Wembley Olympic Games of 1948, he set up a sports clinic at St Charles Hospital, where he became interested in the symphysis pubis strain – the ‘groin strain’ of athletes. He became orthopaedic surgeon to Arsenal Football Club and consultant to the Football Association, where he was highly respected as ‘Nigel the knife’. Nigel was a friendly extrovert; quick in thought and action and never slow to speak his mind. He campaigned for the rights of patients and for freeing medicine from political constraints. He campaigned to set up the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Wing at St Mary’s and was secretary to the Fellowship of Freedom in Medicine. Among his many outside interests, he was interested in medico-legal work, joined the Academy of Experts, where he was respected for his impartiality and, together with Michael Powers QC, wrote *Medical negligence* (London, Butterworths, 1990, second edition: 1994). He was concerned at the increased numbers of injuries to policemen and was instrumental in setting up Flint House in Goring for their rehabilitation. In 1949 he married Elizabeth Burr. They had two sons, Andrew and Mark, who became an anaesthetist. He continued to play cricket and golf for many years, and was a keen hill walker. Unknown to many of his colleagues he owned a racehorse ‘My Learned Friend’. Frank, friendly and open, he never bore a grudge and was always the patient’s friend. He died on 8 July 2007. M Edgar
Resource Identifier RCS: E000528
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Manning, Charles William Stewart French (1918 - 1982)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-02-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378911378911
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Charles Manning, the son of a dental surgeon, was born in Dublin on 14 August 1918. He came to England at the age of five, was educated at Sherborne School and went to St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, qualifying in 1942. After serving as house surgeon to the ear, nose and throat and to the eye departments at Bart's, he joined the RAMC in 1943, serving as a Regimental Medical Officer in France, Holland and Germany. Following demobilization he was house surgeon to the orthopaedic department at the Victoria Hospital, Blackpool. After eighteen months as a casualty officer and general surgical registrar at Fulham Hospital, he returned to Blackpool as orthopaedic registrar and deputy resident medical officer and passed the Final FRCS in 1950. In May 1951 he became orthopaedic registrar with Sydney Higgs, Jackson Burrows and Derek Coltart at Bart's before moving to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, first as registrar and then senior registrar. At this stage he was awarded a European travelling fellowship by the British Orthopaedic Association. During his training at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital he worked with Sir Herbert Seddon, John Cholmeley, David Trevor, Karl Nissen and Philip Newman, and was seconded to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, Mount Vernon and the Luton and Dunstable Hospitals. In 1958 he became consultant surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, deputy Dean of the Institute of Orthopaedics, and deputy clinical director of the hospital, as well as part-time orthopaedic surgeon at Wembley Hospital. Subsequently he was appointed to the Chailey Heritage School and Hospital and, in 1964, to the orthopaedic staff at St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal Marsden. Charles Manning was an excellent general orthopaedic surgeon with a special interest in the treatment of leg equalisation and scoliosis. The scoliosis unit at RNOH greatly expanded under his direction to achieve an international reputation. He was a member of council and honorary secretary of the Section of Orthopaedics at the Royal Society of Medicine. Later he served on the executive committee of the British Orthopaedic Association and was its honorary secretary in 1968-9, and vice-president in 1978. He also served on the board of the *Journal of bone and joint surgery*. He suffered a severe myocardial infarct in 1976 which shortly necessitated coronary by-pass surgery and resection of a ventricular aneurysm so that he then had to limit many of his commitments. However, he continued to serve on the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons. He is remembered as a man of integrity, principle and charm who had a lively interest in people. After early retirement he was a keen gardener and beekeeper in Hertfordshire and bred prize cattle for a short time. When he died suddenly on 13 July 1982 he was survived by his wife, herself a doctor, and by his three daughters, one of whom qualified in medicine at Bart's. A service of thanksgiving for his life and work was held at the Priory Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great, West Smithfield, on 8 September, 1982.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006728
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Mulnier, Johann Joseph Heinrich (1933 - 2015)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by David Reader
Publication Date 2015-12-10 2017-02-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009000-E009099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381201381201
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Johann Joseph Heinrich Mulnier, known as 'Henri', was an orthopaedic surgeon at St Ann's and North Middlesex hospitals, London. He was born on the island of Mauritius and went by boat to study medicine in England. He started his studies at University College London in 1954 and then at University College Hospital, where he qualified in 1960. He was a registrar in orthopaedics at St Mary's Hospital, London, and then a senior registrar at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. He went on to be appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Haringey district in London. His interest in spinal surgery was fostered whilst training with Philip Newman and Ernest Kirwan. This led in the mid-eighties to his developing a technique of posterior interbody fusion. This was a modification of a technique developed by the American neurosurgeon, Ralph Cloward, using morcelised bone graft instead of tricortical bone wedges impacted into a thoroughly prepared disc space - a technique he considered safer. A review of his results during the mid-nineties found that patients who had the best outcomes were those who had leg pain combined with a degenerative intervertebral disc revealed on a preoperative MRI. This was presented at the British Orthopaedic Association annual congress in Torquay in 1993 and was abstracted in a supplement in the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* (*Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery*; 1994, 76-B [suppl. 1]; 44). Although there was some controversy over the place of spinal surgery in low back pain, time showed that there was such a place, and that Henri's vision became a reality when such surgery was combined with careful selection and meticulous technique. He married Josephine Payne in 1958 and they had three children - Richard, Charlotte and Henrietta. Henri and Josephine were inseparable. She was his first assistant in his private practice, his constant companion when travelling and his able partner in all family matters. Henri was an accomplished violinist and has passed on his love of the instrument to Charlotte, who followed him into a medical career in anaesthetics. Henrietta also followed him into medicine as a specialist in diabetic care and research. His fascination with cars, DIY and engineering were bequeathed to Richard, who is an aeroengine designer. He was passionate about the French, their language, cuisine and culture and owned a series of properties in France, ending with a beautiful farmhouse in the Lot-et-Garonne. There he immersed himself in village life, hunting and viticulture. He retired to Surrey when he left London to restore a listed cottage. There he enjoyed gardening, house improvements and socialising. His special interest during these years was opera in all its forms, and he was regularly seen within the audience at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Henri Mulnier died on 31 July 2015, aged 82. He was a remarkable friend to all, particularly his colleagues, a true family man, and a distinguished surgeon who helped many patients through his long career and lived life to the full.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009018
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Sewell, Robert Henry (1920 - 2012)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-07-12 2014-07-18
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002600-E002699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374832374832
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Robert Sewell was an orthopaedic and trauma surgeon in Greenwich. He was born in Horwich, Greater Manchester, on 21 September 1920, the son of James Scott Sewell, a general practitioner and a part-time medical officer of health, and Emily Sewell née Patton, a housewife. His elder brother, Thomas Patton Sewell, also qualified in medicine and became deputy medical officer of health for Lancashire. Sewell was educated first at home with a governess, and then attended Bolton School, where he was in the gymnastics eight and also played chess and boxed. In 1937 he went to Manchester University to read medicine. In 1940 he gained the anatomy prize, and in 1943, the year he qualified, the clinical surgical prize. As a student in Manchester Walter Schlapp supported him in his physiological research for his BSc degree, while Frederic Wood Jones encouraged him in his anatomy studies and advised him to take the primary FRCS in 1941, whilst he was still a student. Sewell was a house surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1943, and a senior house surgeon at Preston Royal Infirmary in 1944. From 1944 to 1946 he was a registrar and senior registrar in trauma and orthopaedics to Sir Harry Platt at Manchester Royal Infirmary, treating casualties from the Second World War. He then served for two years in the RAMC and was posted to Jamaica as a surgeon to the North and South Caribbean Commands. Sewell returned to the UK in 1948, and became a surgical clinical assistant to the Metropolitan Hospital. From 1949 to 1952 he was a registrar and then a senior registrar at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, where he worked with John Cholmeley, A T Fripp, J I P James, Philip Newman and David Trevor. J I P James initiated his interest in hand surgery, while David Trevor reinforced his continuing interest in children's surgery. In 1952, at the age of just 31, he was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon to St Alfege's and the Miller General hospitals in Greenwich, where he faced the challenge of bringing together staff from two very different hospitals. He successfully developed an orthopaedic department and organised an accident and emergency service for Greenwich. He was also actively involved in the planning of the new Greenwich District Hospital. He chaired the medical committee for several years and, from 1973 to 1974, served on the Area Health Authority. From the late 1960s, he also built up a large medico-legal practice, as well as a small private orthopaedic practice. He described himself as a 'GP' orthopaedic surgeon. Because St Alfege's Hospital had the second largest diabetic clinic in the country, he became interested in the orthopaedic complications of diabetes. He was also interested in Dupuytren's contracture, congenital dislocation of the hip and talipes. He wrote on a variety of orthopaedic topics, including excision of the patella, Hand-Schüller-Christian disease and osteoarthritis of the hip. He was a member of the British Orthopaedic Association, chairman of the Greenwich branch of the British Medical Association, and president of the West Kent Medico Chirurgical Society. He was a liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, a freeman of the City of London and a member of the City Livery Club. Sewell retired early, in July 1983. As he himself put it, he found he 'was no longer enjoying…clinical work due to the increasing interference of the NHS administration'. He continued his medico-legal work, and finally retired in June 1988. Outside medicine, he was interested in rose growing and showing (until he developed asthma), travel, reading and, in his retirement, following the stock market. In July 1945 he married Peggy Joan Kearton Chandler, known as 'Joan'. They had two daughters, Carole Gay and Cherry Margot. Robert Henry Sewell died on 14 April 2012, aged 91.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002649
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Fairgrieve, John (1926 - 2014)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2014-08-15 2016-05-27
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377990377990
Occupation General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details John Fairgrieve was a consultant vascular and general surgeon in Cheltenham who, in his youth, was an outstanding sprinter representing Great Britain in the 1948 Olympic Games and reaching the quarter final in the 200m. Although John was English, being born in London, he had Scottish roots as both his father, John, and his mother Grace (née Currie) were born in Ayrshire. His father was distinguished in the first world war, winning the Military Cross on the Somme, and later became the chief mechanical superintendent at the South Metropolitan Gas Company (later part of British Gas). His two elder brothers also became distinguished soldiers, Alex winning a DSO in Burma in 1944 and Hugh wining the Croix de Guerre in Korea, both in the Gurkha Rifles. His sister, Grace, died of an intussception in infancy. John was educated at Cherry Orchard Preparatory School in Charlton and then Abbey School, Beckenham, before proceeding to Imperial Service College, Windsor in 1940, which after two years amalgamated with Haileybury College. John gained a scholarship and spent two further years at Haileybury until he was 18. He had a most distinguished school record, mainly in the sporting context; in rugby as captain of the first 15 (which won the public schools seven asides in 1944) and as captain of athletics. He was company sergeant major in the combined cadet force and a college prefect. In 1944 he proceeded to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and thence to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in 1947. His sporting prowess continued. At Cambridge he was a full blue at rugby and athletics, and also had a trial for the Scottish rugby 15. He played in the first Varsity match after the war at Twickenham, where he scored a memorable try watched by King George VI. In the World Student Games in Paris in 1947 he won the silver medal in the 100m and the bronze medal in the 200m, while a year later he was chosen to represent Great Britain in the 1948 'austerity' Olympics, reaching the quarter final in the 200m. Qualifying in 1950, he was house surgeon in urology to Sir Eric Riches and in orthopaedics to Philip Newman and Philip Wiles at the Middlesex and then house surgeon to Philip Ghey at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. He was then called up for National Service in the RAMC, where he was senior medical officer on troopships going to the Far East with the rank of major. On demobilisation he was a casualty officer at Addenbrooke's and then a senior house officer at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham, before returning in 1956 to the Middlesex as registrar to Sir Eric Riches and C J B Murray. In 1957 he returned to Addenbrooke's as registrar to John Withycombe, passing the final FRCS in the same year. He then spent a spell as a resident surgical officer at St Mark's Hospital, where he became knowledgeable in proctology, before being appointed a senior registrar on the St Mary's Hospital rotation in 1960. It was here that his interest in vascular surgery was kindled, having originally been intent on a career in urology owing to the influence of Sir Eric Riches. In 1962 he spent a year in Boston, USA, pursuing research at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Francis D Moore's department. In 1966 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to Cheltenham General, Gloucester Royal and Stroud hospitals, where he practiced vascular and general surgery. He was the first vascular surgeon to be appointed in Gloucestershire and was single-handed in this specialty until 1986, when a second consultant was appointed. With the help of Michael Gear and Peter Morris of Oxford a link was established in Gloucester and Cheltenham with trainee surgeons in Australia and America, allowing an exchange of learning and skills. John was noted as a good and patient trainer of registrars, both in the clinical arena and in the operating theatre. Despite a very busy practice, John Fairgrieve was active in the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, serving time on its council. He became a surgical tutor at Cheltenham General Hospital and in 1983 was elected a member of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1987 he was elected chairman of the Court at a time when the FRCS examination was undergoing intensive scrutiny by the Council. In this role he showed great determination to ensure sensible changes as well as considerable diplomacy in his dealings with the Council. He was also an external examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, an external examiner in Singapore, a member of the Peripheral Vascular Club and of the Grey Turner Surgical Club, where he was honorary secretary for five years. A talented artist in pastels (in later years his Christmas cards always featured one of his own paintings); he also enjoyed gardening and field sports. He kept closely in touch with his old school and became president of the Haileybury Society. He married Drusilla Anne (née Elliot), a Middlesex physiotherapist, in 1960 and they had four daughters; Alison, Susan, Catherine and Helen. Sadly, John's final years were very difficult as he developed progressive motor neurone disease leading to increasing incapacity. He will be remembered as a most careful and caring surgeon with an excellent bedside manner and a man of great integrity. He had immense generosity of spirit, was kind and gentle and bore the difficulties of his final years with great stoicism. He died at home on 20 July 2014 aged 88.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005807
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Fixsen, John Andrew (1934 - 2014)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by David Jones
Publication Date 2014-09-19 2015-06-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005900-E005999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378152378152
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Paediatric orthopaedic surgeon
Details John Fixsen was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London; by the time of his retirement he was unsurpassed as a children's orthopaedic surgeon in the UK and in great demand as a teacher, lecturer and surgeon worldwide. John was brought up in Altrincham and excelled at Manchester Grammar School. After gaining an open scholarship to Cambridge to read classics, he decided he wanted to pursue a medical career. He joined the sixth form biology class and, having studied no science after his second year at the school, with one year's study obtained an open scholarship to Cambridge in biology. After leaving school he carried out his National Service and was commissioned into the Royal Navy, where he learned Russian and worked as an interpreter. In 1955 he went up to Cambridge to read medicine, going to the Middlesex Hospital for clinical studies and qualifying in 1962. During his house jobs there he came under the influence of Philip Newman in particular and settled on a career in orthopaedics. He trained at the Middlesex and on the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital circuit, gaining his FRCS and MChir on the way. In 1969 he was appointed as a consultant at St Bartholomew's Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, Hackney. Following a reorganisation, the latter became part of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and John served there with distinction for the rest of his career, virtually single-handed for many years. He was also a civilian consultant to the Army, Navy and RAF, and visiting consultant to Chailey Heritage, St Margaret's, Tadworth, and St Bernard's, Gibraltar. As his practice grew, so did his reputation as a surgeon, teacher and mentor. In his clinics the children referred to him as 'Mr Fixit' and he took on the most complex cases across the whole spectrum of children's orthopaedics, apart from spinal surgery. This gave great support to not only the children and their families, but also the surgeons who referred cases from far and wide. Even if a case had gone badly wrong for the referring doctor, John's letters were supportive and never critical of previous management. In the operating theatre he was a methodical and consistent surgeon with phrases and tricks to accompany each stage of the operation. These were well remembered by his trainees, who in turn could pass them to the next generation; a true example of apprenticeship. Apart from his clinical and surgical abilities, he published widely in books and journals and gave countless presentations and invited lectures nationally and internationally, including the Robert Jones lecture in 1994. He also served the British Society for Children's Orthopaedic Surgery and the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society with distinction. His international reputation was cemented as a member of the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Think Tank. He was a voracious reader with an encyclopaedic memory and his knowledge of the orthopaedic literature was one of his hallmarks as a teacher and participant in clinical conferences. He was a long-term examiner for the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and later the intercollegiate orthopaedic fellowship. He also gave sterling service to the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* as a career-long reviewer, editorial secretary of the British Orthopaedic Association (from 1982 to 1984), board member (from 1982 to 1985) and a highly-valued associate editor and rewriter from 1997 to 2011. He retired from the NHS in 1996 but remained active as a teacher, lecturer and consultant adviser. In 2002 he was invited to Afghanistan as medical adviser to Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal, working with Afghan nationals trained by the charity as physiotherapists, orthotists and prosthetists in clinics in Kabul, Jalalabad and elsewhere. John quickly realised that little attention was being given to children who presented with untreated conditions, including congenital disorders, polio and cerebral palsy. His contributions during biannual visits over 10 years included the introduction of screening programmes for congenital clubfoot and development dysplasia of the hip and, more importantly, by identifying, helping to train and supporting the few Afghan orthopaedic surgeons who showed an interest in paediatric cases. For all his achievements during his orthopaedic career, including his work in Afghanistan, he was awarded the honorary fellowship of the British Orthopaedic Association in 2010. Outside of orthopaedics he read widely, followed the arts and music, especially ballet, and was a keen climber (latterly walker), skier and sailor. He also had a love for fast cars and was an avid follower of Formula One racing. He was endlessly generous in encouraging others to join in and enjoy these hobbies. His daughter Sarah remembers him as a modest and unassuming person: '…as children we had no real awareness of how successful he was in orthopaedics nor how competitive he was (although this became apparent when we were foolish enough to play squash with him when we were in our teens). His competitive side was driven by a need to do his best in all activities in which he participated rather than being *the* best... He was kind and compassionate - believed in treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. He rarely criticised or judged others - if people did things that seemed terrible he would always consider how he would have behaved in the same circumstances. He was in some respects unworldly and a little eccentric - he definitely was not concerned with material comforts or belongings… He seemed to live in a slightly different (and rather lovely) world doing the things he loved and "tolerating" the modern world of mobile phones, emails and computers. He was always supportive of us his children, whichever path we chose and with his grandchildren he attended pantomimes and theatre productions and genuinely enjoyed them. He never quite mastered the art of a conversation being a two-way dialogue with both parties contributing equally…. However this was only because his knowledge was so wide and diverse and he had so much to impart! In summary, he was a modest, kind, compassionate, generous, eccentric and supportive Dad - his approach to life was one we much admired and will continue to recall.' In his lifetime John Fixsen achieved so much in so many ways. He died on 11 August 2014, aged 79. He was survived by his ex-wife Judy and their three children. After his death his family found a quote from Marcus Aurelius written in his diary: 'A man's true delight is to do that which he was made for' - which John certainly did.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005969
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lettin, Alan William Frederick (1931 - 2023)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2023-02-02
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/386370386370
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Alan Lettin, one of the most distinguished orthopaedic surgeons of his generation, noted for his lifelong devotion to orthopaedic training and his commitment to the Royal College of Surgeons of England, was born in humble circumstances in the East End of London, where his father and mother ran a corner shop in Leytonstone selling groceries, stationery, tobacco and sweets. His father, Frederick, had previously been an instrument maker and, until Alan was born, his mother Louisa Marion (née Tabberer), worked for Wills Tobacco, rolling tobacco leaf to make large hand-made cigars. The more cigars she could make, the more she was paid! At the age of six, Alan started at a local primary school, walking there and back in the morning and again in the afternoon and being very unhappy. In later life, he recalled being told that if he did not attend, he would be sent to a reform school. In the early part of the Second World War, he was evacuated to Cambridgeshire, where for some months he delighted in having no schooling, spending time helping at a local farm. After the Blitz, he returned to Leytonstone and was sent to Cann Hall Primary School, where he flourished, passing the scholarship (the forerunner of the 11 plus) to Leyton County High School of Boys. Here he enjoyed sports, becoming captain of football and tennis, as well as winning several academic prizes, his most cherished being the headmaster’s prize for leadership. Having been a member of the St John Ambulance Brigade Cadets, enjoying science and having no flair for languages, he decided on applying for a place at medical school. Because of the need to live at home for financial reasons, he applied to all 12 London medical schools, but was rejected by all. However, University College had a separate entrance examination for the medical faculty and in this he was successful, starting there in 1949. He worked hard, eschewing social and sporting activities. This resulted in high marks in the second MB examinations, leading to a Medical Research Council scholarship, enabling him to pursue an honours degree in physiology (awarded in 1952), as well as a state scholarship, lasting for the duration of his clinical years. Despite the possible distraction of marriage in 1953, he won the Sir Thomas Lewis prize for clinical research in 1954 and qualified in 1955. After house appointments at University College Hospital (UCH), he entered the Royal Air Force for two years as a National Serviceman, reaching the rank of flight lieutenant. He was posted to a largely administrative job in London, which gave him the opportunity to study for the primary FRCS, which he passed at his second attempt, before being demobilised three months early to take up a casualty surgical officer’s job back at UCH. After passing the final FRCS, in 1961 he was appointed as a senior house officer at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH), Stanmore, where he worked for Philip Newman and Charles Manning, both of whom greatly influenced him; the experience gained there confirmed his wish to pursue a career in orthopaedics. Registrar and then senior registrar posts at the main branch of RNOH followed, where he was especially influenced by Sir Herbert Seddon, who invited him to become a lecturer at the Institute of Orthopaedics. Here he made a detailed study of the effects of axial compression and internal fixation on the healing of fractures. The work was written up as a thesis for which he was awarded the MS of London University in 1967. In the same year, the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) awarded him the Sir Robert Jones prize and gold medal for this research. It also led to visits to Paris, Lyons and Switzerland to present his findings, the first of many visits overseas. Realising his deficiency in accident surgery and the management of children’s orthopaedics, he spent time at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital, before being appointed in 1967 to a six-session consultant orthopaedic surgeon post at St Bartholomew’s Hospital with three sessions at Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, Hackney. Two years later, in 1969, a consultant post at RNOH became vacant and Alan was appointed, resigning his sessions at Hackney. He remained on the staff of Barts and RNOH for the rest of his career, being involved not only with clinical work but also undertaking various management roles in both hospitals. For many years he also had honorary appointments at Doctor Barnardo’s Homes and at St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy. Alan rapidly developed an international reputation, being in demand as a lecturer in many countries as a result of his regular publications in orthopaedic journals and textbooks, especially on joint replacement, sports injuries and the management of rheumatoid abnormalities, which were his main interests. He was an outstanding lecturer – forthright, logical, lucid and always memorable. Even as a junior, Alan had been interested in training and, soon after his appointment at Barts, he instituted a rotational training scheme in orthopaedics, something unique for its time, which allowed seamless training over four years in different hospitals, posts changing every six months. Admission to the scheme became highly sought after and over the years led to a huge number of well-trained consultants in hospitals all over the country; the scheme has since been much copied in other surgical disciplines. Unsurprisingly, his trainees worshipped him and at his retirement he was presented with a leather-bound volume containing reminiscences from more than 50 of his trainees, each with a photograph. He first became associated with the Royal College of Surgeons of England when, in 1978, he was elected a member of the Court of Examiners, in those days a small elite body of surgeons, only some 30 in number. Six years later, he was elected to the College Council, where he quickly became influential especially in relations with the British Orthopaedic Association. In the 1980s, many members of the BOA were pushing hard for a separate college of orthopaedics, something which Alan strongly opposed. Being a council member of both organisations, he was able to ensure that such a breakaway did not happen, an important decision for both institutions. He became president of the BOA in 1994. At around this time, he gave up private practice in order that he could maintain his clinical commitments to the NHS, while continuing to contribute to the development of the profession by his involvement in teaching, the College and the BOA. Alan served 12 years on the College Council, eventually becoming senior vice-president after making important contributions to innumerable committees, including the chairmanship of the fundraising executive for several years. With his long interest in teaching and training it was inevitable that he became chairman of the board of surgical training and chairman of the regional training committee. In the later part of his time on Council it became apparent that the College examinations needed radical overhaul and who better to take on this challenge as lead than Alan? He became chairman of the examination board and was hugely influential in developing the many changes that were necessary. In 1998, he gave the annual Thomas Vicary lecture, in which he described the history of the Court of Examiners, the body to which he had been elected 20 years previously. Much to his disappointment, he was unsuccessful in a fiercely contested election for presidency of the College, a post which he had long hoped to achieve. In 2022, he was elected to the Court of Patrons in recognition of his outstanding service over many years, an award that many felt long overdue. A room in the College has been named after him. Outside of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Alan was a member of the General Osteopathic Council for ten years, a founder member of the Innominate Club and a member of the Percivall Pott Club, both clubs being exclusive to orthopaedic surgeons. He was also a keen and long serving member of the Worshipful Company of Barbers of London, being elected to the court and becoming master in 1990. In retirement he moved to a 400-year-old moated timber-frame farmhouse in Suffolk and spent many hours restoring the gardens and building a summer house, a workshop and a field shelter using recycled bricks and timbers from the main house. He became a part-time sheep farmer, contracting out the management, and took an active part in local community affairs, becoming chairman of the friends of the local church. He also wrote his life story *Was it something I said?* (Stanhope, Memoir Club, 2005), a title referring to his sometimes lack of tact. Always forthright in his views, he readily acknowledged that diplomacy was not his strongest attribute. His career spanned the first 50 years of the NHS and in his memoir, he described the changes which have taken place as he personally saw them, with characteristic cogency and honesty. He remained active and alert, always wanting to know the latest College gossip, until the last few years when he developed troublesome mobility problems, something he found greatly frustrating. However, these did not prevent him from attending selected London functions using a wheelchair and Zimmer frame, but in the last few months he became increasingly frail. Alan was married to Patricia (née Plumb), a legal secretary, for over 60 years (they married in 1953 while he was still a medical student) and who predeceased him. They had four children, Jennifer, who died of a spinal tumour aged 13, Nicholas, Jonathan and Timothy. Alan died on 3 January 2023, three days short of his 92nd birthday.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010204
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sweetnam, Sir David Rodney (1927 - 2013)

2025-08-02T18:45:30Z

by Michael Edgar
Publication Date 2013-06-12 2014-01-24
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004000-E004099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376277376277
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Sir Rodney Sweetnam was undoubtedly the doyen of orthopaedic surgery of his generation. He had many talents. Foremost, he was a natural surgeon, gifted with great operative dexterity. He was also a pioneer in the research and management of bone tumours, and, thirdly, was an outstanding committee chairman and strategist. His sprightly manner and careful but resolute decision making were balanced by a warm and sensitive personality, and a youthful sense of humour. Sir Rodney Sweetnam was elected president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1995, only the second orthopaedic surgeon after Sir Harry Platt to have achieved this position. He became a leading light in the organisation of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) and in the management of the *British Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery*, as well as being orthopaedic surgeon to HM the Queen, civilian consultant to the Army and consultant adviser to the Department of Health. Sir Rodney was born into a medical family. His father, William, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, was a well-respected general practitioner in Wimbledon. His mother, Irene née Black, was a medical student prior to her marriage. Although he was named David Rodney Sweetnam at birth, his mother was told on his first day at nursery school that there were too many 'Davids' and thereafter he became 'Rodney'. He was educated at Pembroke House Preparatory School and Clayesmore School, Dorset, where he evidently enjoyed his schooldays, as judged by his recent reminiscences in their school magazine (although he commented elsewhere that he did not excel at school). Towards the end of the Second World War he recalled a Lancaster bomber crash landing in the school field. He and a group of prefects ran to see if they could help the airmen trapped in the burning wreckage, but, whilst the others ran to the flames, he was more cautious. He wrote that he then realised that he was not a brave man (he failed to mention that years later he received a bravery award from the Metropolitan Police for saving the lives of two officers trapped in a crashed fire-ravaged patrol car). It would seem that wartime school teaching was not always of the highest standard, and Rodney's father coached him in the study of Latin, then a necessary prerequisite for Oxbridge entry. He had little interest in sport either at school or later in life, but always enjoyed exercise, especially brisk walking. He was company sergeant major of the school cadet corps. Rodney entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1945 as a titular scholar (later to be made an honorary fellow in 2003). He remarked that for the first time he started to take his studies seriously and, as a consequence, he took a first in the natural sciences tripos, gaining his BA in 1947. He attended the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, for his clinical course, qualifying MB BChir in 1950. He then completed two years National Service as a surgeon lieutenant in the Royal Navy, where he served on the battleship and flagship HMS *Vanguard*, regretting that he just missed its Royal tour to South Africa, but not regretting that he managed to stay outside the Korean War zone! Rodney gained his FRCS diploma in 1955 and embarked on his specialty training in orthopaedics. He worked under many of the great orthopaedic surgeons of the day, including Philip Wiles and Philip Newman at the Middlesex, Sir Reginald Watson-Jones and (Sir) Henry Osmond-Clarke at the London and Sir Herbert Seddon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Rodney was appointed as a consultant at the Middlesex Hospital in 1960, aged 32, replacing Philip Wiles, who in his time had carried out the world's first total hip replacement (in 1938) and had worked alongside Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor in his management of bone tumours. With Philip Newman, Rodney Sweetnam created a very happy and efficient orthopaedic unit. He was one of the very few consultants to run a Saturday morning fracture clinic, which he kept up until his retirement. Following on from Philip Wiles, Rodney continued to develop a major interest in bone tumours. Working with Sir Stanford Cade, the pioneering radiologist and radiotherapist, he demonstrated in a series of adolescent lower limb bone sarcomas that local radiotherapy followed six months later by amputation, providing the patient was free of detectable metastases, led to a similar if not slightly better survival rate (then only 20%). Thereby, untimely amputation compounding a tragic terminal illness in an adolescent was largely avoided. This study was awarded the Jacksonian prize in 1966 and he presented his work as Hunterian Professor in 1967. The subsequent development of massive replacement prostheses with John Scales from Stanmore enabled radical tumour excision to be achieved with limb salvage, even in cases of hemipelvectomy, thereby avoiding the mutilation of Gordon-Taylor's hindquarter amputation. This technique was probably Rodney's most notable achievement and one which, combined with steadily improving chemotherapy regimens, vastly improved both life expectancy and quality. He wrote some pivotal papers on this work and gave the Gordon-Taylor, Stanford Cade, Bradshaw and Robert Jones lectures. In the generality of orthopaedics he wrote three small but useful and well-received text-books, two written with Philip Wiles (*Essentials of orthopaedics* fourth edition, London, J & A Churchill, 1965 and *Fractures, dislocations and sprains* London, J & A Churchill, 1969) and one written with Sean Hughes (*Basis and practice of orthopaedics* Heinemann Medical, 1980). Rodney chaired the MRC working party on bone sarcoma from 1980 to 1985. Earlier, he was appointed chairman of the Department of Health's advisory group on orthopaedic implants (1973 to 1981). Interestingly, his committee recommended that all new joint and other implants should be subject to a trial period of surveillance before general release to orthopaedic surgeons. However, the Department of Health took no further action. Rodney later commented that had the Department implemented this, many implant failures might have been avoided, such as the 1998 3M Capital hip fiasco (when a hip implant failed and tracing patients proved difficult). He subsequently became a consultant adviser in orthopaedic surgery to the Department of Health (from 1981 to 1990). Rodney joined the council of management of the British edition of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* (now the *Bone and Joint Journal*) in 1975, becoming secretary/treasurer later that year. He held this position for 17 years in partnership with David Evans of the Westminster Hospital as chairman. During this period the journal achieved world status. Rodney then took over the chairmanship on David Evan's retirement in 1992. Under Rodney's shrewd leadership and with adequate funds in reserve the council of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* made the bold decision to withdraw from its inadequate offices at the Royal College of Surgeons and become independent by purchasing freehold premises in Buckingham Street, a decision fully justified with time. Rodney also had a close relationship with the British Orthopaedic Association, serving as secretary from 1972 to 1973 (when he was also secretary to the orthopaedic section of the Royal Society of Medicine) and as BOA president in 1985 to 1986. He was awarded an honorary fellowship of the BOA in 1998. He was elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1985, becoming vice president from 1992 to 1994 and president from 1995 to 1998. Contrary to his views about the journal, he came to the opinion that the BOA, representing the largest surgical sub-specialty, should remain firmly within the RCS as an influential body. Apart from being on the consultant staff of the Middlesex Hospital from 1960 to 1992 (where he was chairman of the medical advisory committee to the board of governors from 1971 to 1972), Rodney also served on the staff of King Edward VII Hospital, London, from 1964 to 1997. He was an honorary consultant to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, consultant to the Royal Hospital Chelsea and an honorary civil consultant to the Army. He was president of the Combined Services Orthopaedic Society from 1983 to 1986. Among his many other distinctions, Rodney was appointed orthopaedic surgeon to HM The Queen and the Royal Household in 1982, a post he held for ten years, with a commitment to ensure that he was almost always available if needed. Reputedly, when the Queen phoned him he always stood to answer. During an early visit to Buckingham Palace, some junior members of the Household secreted several valuable ornaments into his Gladstone bag, which fortunately he noticed just in time before leaving the Royal suite. He was made a CBE in 1990 and was knighted in 1992. Outside medicine, Rodney served as a trustee of the Smith and Nephew (charitable) Foundation and of the Newman Foundation. He was director and vice chairman of the Permanent Insurance Company, and director of the Medical Sickness Annuity and Life Assurance Society. Rodney came to love 'The Middlesex Hospital' dearly (he always insisted on a capital 'T' for 'the'). For him and many other colleagues it embodied the highest standards of teaching and clinical practice in a disciplined, yet friendly atmosphere within its multi-specialty setting. He epitomised this ethos and viewed orthopaedics as best developed within a multi-specialty context. The many past trainees, nurses and physiotherapists who worked with him at the Middlesex will always remember the many orthopaedic department alumni or 'snowball' gatherings, in which Rodney was the central figure, reflecting the affection and admiration with which he was regarded. Rodney was part of a close knit family. His lovely wife Pat was a nursing sister at the Middlesex and his daughter Sarah also trained in nursing there. David, his son, qualified at the Middlesex, following him into orthopaedic surgery. He described his happy domestic life as 'a perfect marriage to the daughter of a surgeon, a daughter who became a Middlesex Hospital nurse like her mother and a son who became an orthopaedic surgeon like his father!' Rodney enjoyed working in the garden, but was more interested in scaling trees with a chain saw than tending to weeds and flower beds; he personally dug the hole for the swimming pool in his garden. In *Who's who* he described himself as a 'garden labourer' in deference to Pat's horticultural talents. Her declining mental health in his last few years, for which he gave her considerable support, greatly saddened him, second only to which was the closure of the Middlesex. His life is an extraordinary record of accomplishment. Rodney was tireless. He was nearly always first in the consultant car park at the Middlesex, having commuted down the M1. Visiting his private patients first, he then digested *The Times* in the consultants' sitting room or King Edward VII's library, being ready for his NHS commitment by 8.00-8.15am. Patients were bemused to see him on the ward before they were properly awake. Although not interested in sport, he enjoyed exercise and remained slim and spare throughout his life. He walked extremely fast for long distances. Ward rounds were conducted at speed, those attending being strewn behind him as he ran up five flights of stairs. His perambulations six times each day around Lincoln's Inn Fields when president were legendary. Rodney had a quick and intuitive intellect. He saw through humbug with alacrity. He was a brilliant chairman, keen to make decisions and avoid being side-tracked. Besides being a very deft and skilful surgeon, he was an incomparable mentor, giving time to teach and counsel his junior colleagues, sharing a life-long interest in their careers and supporting all those who were conscientious and worked hard. His many hand-written letters offering congratulation or commiseration have become valued mementoes. Rodney had his bête noires, a major one being those smelling strongly of garlic. Many remember that it was an unwise orthopaedic registrar indeed who would risk turning up to assist Sir Rodney having eaten garlic the night before. Rapid departure from the theatre was assured. A note tacked to the back of the presidential dinner chair at the Royal College of Surgeons read simply: 'No garlic'. He also despised tardiness in any form. Yet these strong dislikes were tempered by a ready sense of humour, with a gift for swift repartee and a broad knowledge of all that went on in the world. Sir Rodney Sweetnam died on 17 May 2013, aged 86, and was survived by his wife Pat and his son and daughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004094
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset