Richard Gordon (born Gordon Stanley Benton, 15 September 1921 – 11 August 2017, also known as Gordon Stanley Ostlere), was an English ship's surgeon and

anaesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medici ...

. As Richard Gordon, Ostlere wrote numerous

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

screenplays ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fea ...

for film and television and accounts of

popular history Popular history is a broad genre of historiography that takes a popular approach, aims at a wide readership, and usually emphasizes narrative, personality and vivid detail over scholarly analysis. The term is used in contradistinction to professio ...

, mostly dealing with the practice of medicine. He was best known for a long series of comic novels on a medical theme beginning with ''

Doctor in the House ''Doctor in the House'' is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the 1952 novel by Gordon, and follows a group of s ...

'', and the subsequent film, television, radio and stage adaptations. His ''The Alarming History of Medicine'' was published in 1993, and he followed this with ''The Alarming History of Sex''. Gordon was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He studied at

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge (formally Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (1 ...

, and worked as an anaesthetist at St. Bartholomew's Hospital (where he had been a medical student) and later as a ship's surgeon and as assistant editor of the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origin ...

''. He published several technical books under his own name, including ''Anaesthetics for Medical Students'' (1949), later published as ''Ostlere and Bryce-Smith's Anaesthetics for Medical Students'' in 1989; ''Anaesthetics and the Patient'' (1949), and ''Trichlorethylene Anaesthesia'' (195

He left medical practice in 1952, and took up writing full-time. The early ''Doctor'' novels, set in the fictitious St. Swithin's, a teaching hospital in London, were witty and apparently autobiographical; later books included more sexual innuendo and farce. The novels were successful in Britain in

Penguin Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

paperback during the 1960s and 1970s. Gordon also contributed articles to ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' magazine, and published books on medicine, gardening, fishing and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

. The film adaptation of ''

'' (1954) was released two years after the book's publication. He had an uncredited role as an anaesthetist in the film. '' Doctor at Sea'' came out the following year, with

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

in the cast.

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House'' (1954) for the Rank Orga ...

starred as Dr. Simon Sparrow in both. The later spin-off TV series were written by British comedy writers. In 1974, he walked off the set of ''

This is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

'' when

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...

appeared with the red book. He later changed his mind and the show was transmitted a week later. Gordon's wife Mary Ostlere was also a physician, and the couple had four children. He died on 11 August 2017.

Partial bibliography

*''

''. London: Joseph, 1952 *'' Doctor at Sea''. London: Joseph, 1953 *'' The Captain's Table''. London: Joseph, 1954 *'' Doctor at Large''. London: Joseph, 1955 *'' Doctor in Love''. London. Joseph, 1957 *'' Doctor and Son''. London: Joseph, 1959 *'' Doctor in Clover''. London: Joseph, 1960 *'' Doctor on Toast''. London: Joseph, 1961 *''

Doctor in the Swim ''Doctor in the Swim'' is a 1962 comedy novel by the British writer Richard Gordon.Pringle p.227 It is part of the long-running ''Doctor'' series, and follows the womanising Doctor Grimsdyke as he gets into a number of scrapes. References B ...

''. London: Joseph, 1962 *''

The Summer of Sir Lancelot ''The Summer of Sir Lancelot'' is a 1963 comedy novel by the British writer Richard Gordon.Pringle p.227 The fearsome surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt goes into retirement, committed to spending his time trout fishing Trout are species of fre ...

''. Heinemann, 1963 *'' Love and Sir Lancelot''. Heinemann, 1965 *'' Doctor on the Boil''. Heinemann, 1970 *'' Doctor on the Brain''. Heinemann, 1972 *''

Doctor in the Nude ''Doctor in the Nude'' is a 1973 comedy novel A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic ...

''. Heinemann, 1973 *''

Doctor on the Job ''Doctor on the Job'' is a 1976 comedy novel by the British writer Richard Gordon,Pringle p.227 part of the long-running ''Doctor'' series. In it, to the fury of Sir Lancelot Spratt, a major strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surna ...

''. Heinemann, 1976 *''

Doctor in the Nest ''Doctor in the Nest'' is a 1979 comedy novel by the British writer Richard Gordon.Pringle p.227 Part of the long-running ''Doctor'' series, it finds Sir Lancelot Spratt struggling against cuts in the NHS The National Health Service (NHS) ...

''. Heinemann, 1979 *''Doctor's Daughters''. Heinemann, 1981 *''Doctor on the Ball''. Hutchinson, 1985 *''Doctor in the Soup''. Century, 1986 *''The Last of Sir Lancelot''. Hale, 1999 *'' Nuts in May''. Heinemann, 1964 *'' The Facemaker''. Heinemann, 1967 *'' Surgeon at Arms''. Heinemann, 1968 *''The Facts of Life''. Heinemann, 1969 *''

The Medical Witness ''The Medical Witness'' is a 1971 novel by the British writer Richard Gordon.Peacock p.355 The story concerns John Rumbelow, the leading pathologist in the country whose word is often counted on in murder trials. References Bibliography * Pe ...

''. Heinemann, 1971 *''The Sleep of Life''. Heinemann, 1975 *''

The Invisible Victory ''The Invisible Victory'' is a 1977 spy thriller novel by the British writer Richard Gordon.Peacock p.356 A young British chemist working in Germany in the late 1930s is recruited by British intelligence to work on stealing scientific research f ...

''. Heinemann, 1977 *''The Private Life of Florence Nightingale''. Heinemann, 1978 *''The Private Life of Jack the Ripper''. Heinemann, 1980 *''The Private Life of Doctor Crippen''. Heinemann, 1981 *''Dr. Gordon's Casebook'' (diary). Severn House, 1982 *''Great Medical Disasters'', Hutchinson, 1983 *''Great Medical Mysteries''. Hutchinson, 1984 *''The Bulldog and the Bear: A Play in Two Acts''. Samuel French, 1984
''The Alarming History of Medicine''
Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993 *''The Literary Companion to Medicine: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry'', Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993 *''An Alarming History of Famous and Difficult Patients''. St. Martin's Press, 1997

References

Richard Gordon
at World Book online encyclopedia

External links

*
BBC Guide to Comedy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Richard 1921 births 2017 deaths 20th-century English medical doctors Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital English anaesthetists 20th-century English novelists English screenwriters English male screenwriters English male novelists British medical writers 20th-century English male writers