A few days ago I imagined a conversation with Alan in which I told him of the plans to have four speakers here this afternoon. He chortled in his usual way and pointed out that we might all say the same thing or else that we might contradict each ether. Well, let's see.In 1948 Alan was admitted to Guy‘s under Dr Boland whose Registrar I was at the time, when Alan left hospital six weeks later we were firm friends and remained so for the rest of his life.In 1950 I went to work at Lewisham and in the following year Alan was appointed to the Staff there as our psychiatrist. This added a long association as colleagues to the friendship we had already formed. Professionally Alan was, I think, basically an academic with the precise love of knowledge and affairs of the intellect that goes with it, but without any of the dry as dust objectivity which can be rather boring to other people. Instead he added the curiosity and excitement of the scientist, the natural historian who loved collecting different patterns of human behaviour.In addition to this, fortunately, he had a natural sympathy and affection for human beings. Alan treated psychiatry as a branch of general medicine - which of course it is - though from a lot of what is said and written one might think it was a separate discipline altogether. He was a very good physician indeed and over a period of many years brought comfort and help to his colleagues because they knew that all patients referred to him would  be properly assessed and advised. He never deviated from common sense and was always knowledgeable and precise. His patients sensed this and appreciated his sympathetic approach as many of us know who had members of their family and friends under his care.  Any doctor who wished to learn how this or any other branch of consultant medicine should be practised would gain priceless knowledge about patients, written in that clear script always concise, usually short, where nothing relevant was missed out, no statement was ever obscure or ambiguous, and always with a sense of sympathetic understanding of patients' problems.All of this was reflected in his personal qualities as a friend livened with wit and humour, often of a mischievous quality but never malicious, with a warmth of affection, a dislike of humbug and a modesty which reflected his personality - never didactic, completely ingressive and always enthusiastic.An evening with Pat and Alan was always a great pleasure with conversation which among many subjects would include food and the cooking of it, wine and travel, and there was always Alan's beautiful photography. I don’t know what to say but I must express our deepest sympathy to Pat, Tessa, Pru, Deborah and the rest of the family.For myself I find that one does not realise until later in life how much one has lost by being too busy to make the most of one's real friends.

 

Dr Michael Price