"What the's bleeding time?" Farewell to Richard Gordon

I am always pleased when I find out that someone I had assumed was dead is still alive.

The only trouble is that they tend to die soon after you make that discovery.

A couple of years ago it was the England cricketer Bob Appleyard. (What I didn't say in that post was that I was using his name as part of a password at work at the time he died and therefore felt partly responsible for his death.)

Today came news that another such figure had left us: Richard Gordon.

A doctor himself (his real name was Gordon Ostlere), Gordon published a novel based on his experience of medical training, Doctor in the House, in 1952.

It was filmed two years later with Dirk Bogarde in the lead role, and a further six Doctor films were made from Gordon's series of books.

And in 1969 and 1970 Doctor in the House became a London Weekend Television comedy series starring people like Barry Evans, Robin Nedwell and Martin Shaw.

The clip above ends with the most celebrated joke from the Doctor in the House film. It cracked them up in 1954.