caption nationality name birth_date known_for article_title birth_name
english surgeon , anaesthetist , and writer english richard gordon 15 september 1921 `` doctor '' novel series richard gordon -lrb- english author -rrb-
 gordon stanley ostlere
richard gordon -lrb- english author -rrb-

richard gordon is the pen name used by gordon ostlere -lrb- born gordon stanley ostlere on 15 september 1921 -rrb- , an english surgeon and anaesthetist .
as richard gordon , ostlere has written numerous novels , screenplays for film and television and accounts of popular history , mostly dealing with the practice of medicine .
he is best known for a long series of comic novels on a medical theme beginning with `` doctor in the house '' , 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 worked as an anaesthetist at st. bartholomew 's hospital -lrb- where he was a medical student -rrb- and later as a ship 's surgeon and as assistant editor of the `` british medical journal '' .
he has published several technical books under his own name including `` anaesthetics for medical students '' -lrb- 1949 -rrb- , later published as `` ostlere and bryce-smith 's anaesthetics for medical students '' in 1989 ; `` anaesthetics and the patient '' -lrb- 1949 -rrb- , and `` trichlorethylene anaesthesia '' -lrb- 1953 -rrb- -lsb- http://www.sxmzxh.com/mzfzs/this%20month%20in%20anesthesia%20history/september.htm] .
in 1952 , he left medical practice 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 very successful in britain in penguin paperback during the 1960s and 1970s .
richard gordon also contributed articles to `` punch '' magazine and has published books on medicine , gardening , fishing and cricket .
the film adaptation of `` doctor in the house '' -lrb- 1954 -rrb- was released two years after the book 's publication .
he has an uncredited role as an anaesthetist in the film .
`` doctor at sea '' came out the following year , with brigitte bardot in the cast .
dirk bogarde starred as dr. simon sparrow in both .
the later spin-off tv series were written by well-known british comedy writers .
in 1974 he walked off the set of `` this is your life '' when eamonn andrews appeared with the red book .
he later changed his mind and the show was transmitted a week later .
his wife mary ostlere is also a physician , and they have four children .
he lives in london .
