The Royal College of Physicians--ancient and modern

Abstract

The history of the College's first 430 years was covered in three volumes ending in 1947. It required an entire fourth volume to cover the next 36 years up to 1984. During this time the almost incredible changes and advances in medicine were accompanied by a metamorphosis in the scale, scope, behaviour and attitude of a very traditional College--now housed in one of Denys Lasdun's finest modern buildings. Led by a series of remarkable presidents, the College has met its challenges with considerable panache. It strongly supported the National Health Service at its inception, published ground-breaking reports on smoking and other 'lifestyle' threats to health, and made constant efforts to improve medical standards and defend academic medicine. Its story, as told by Asa Briggs, is enough to provide nostalgia for the elderly and much food for thought for the not-so-old.