I was taught to sail by my father during our family's annual one-week holiday on the Norfolk Broads. Then at secondary school I managed to avoid cricket by sailing dinghies on the narrow, winding and tree-encumbered River Lea. My first taste of Scottish sailing was in 1959 when my father chartered an old Clyde Racer from Irvine. Then there was a gap, while I was at medical school and developing my career, until 1974 when I started chartering every year, sometimes twice a year, off the west coast of Scotland. Until 1988 when I and a good friend bought Calypso, a Contessa 32, which we sold in 2010. Since then I have sailed in Pickle, my own Rustler 36.
Since retiring in 2008 I have sailed round Great Britain three times, and written a book about the first — 'Sailing Pickle round Great Britain with family, friends and bees in my bonnet.' These days I stick to the west coast of Scotland. I am a member of the Royal Cruising Club, the Clyde Cruising Club, and the Association of Yachting Historians.
I live in Edinburgh where I was professor of medical neurology until I retired in 2008. My main research interest was in stroke, with minor excursions into motor neurone disease and functional neurological disorders. I contributed to around five hundred scientific papers and review articles, set up and edited a neurological review journal, and authored or co-authored nine medical books. As for photography I did once try escaping from being a medical student, and went to see the photo editor of a national newspaper with my portfolio. After flicking through it he said 'Photographers, just button pushers. Stick to medicine'. So I did.
