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Henry Marsh

Kirsty Young interviews Henry Marsh, neurosurgeon and writer.

Henry Marsh is a neurosurgeon, who pioneered a technique of operating on the brain while the patient is under local anaesthetic. The procedure is now standard practice. He is also an acclaimed writer.

He was born in 1950 in Oxford, where his father was an academic. His mother came to England as a political refugee from Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. Henry did not initially pursue a career in medicine: after dropping out of university, he found work as a hospital porter, and only then decided to train as a doctor.

He was appointed a consultant at St George’s Hospital, London, in 1987. He has spent his career in the NHS, and has also frequently worked abroad, in Ukraine, Nepal, Albania and elsewhere. He retired in 2015, but continues to teach one day a week and to work overseas to help less experienced surgeons.

In 2014, he published a memoir, Do No Harm, which was widely praised for its honesty about mistakes in the operating theatre.

Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Sarah Taylor

Available now

36 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Sep 2018 09:00
BBC Radio 4 FM

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Music Played

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • B.B. King

      Better Not Look Down

      • Take It Home.
      • MCA.
      • 1.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132: III. Molto adagio

    Ensemble: Hungarian Quartet.
    • Beethoven: String Quartets.
    • Regis Records.

  • Ivan Larionov

    Kalinka

    Performer: Evgeny Belyaev. Choir: The Alexandrov Ensemble.
    • Moonlight Over Moscow.
    • Teldec.
    • 3.

  • Ry Cooder

    How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?

    • Why Don't You Try Me Tonight?: The Best Of Ry Cooder.
    • Telstar Music Group Ltd.
    • 1.

  • Joan Armatrading

    Down To Zero

    • Joan Armatrading.
    • Warner Music UK Limited.
    • 1.

  • Franz Schubert

    String Quintet in C major, Adagio [2nd movement]

    Performer: Amadeus Quartet. Performer: Norbert Brainin. Performer: Siegmund Nissel. Performer: Peter Schidlof. Performer: Martin Lovett. Performer: Robert Cohen.
    • Schubert: Streichquintett D 956.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 2.

  • Domenico Scarlatti

    Sonata K95 in C

    Performer: Fou Ts'ong.
    • Domenico Scarlatti: Piano Concertos.
    • Meridian.
    • 32.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Matthäuspassion. Aria: "Erbarme dich"

    Performer: Andreas Scholl. Librettist: Christian Friedrich Henrici. Orchestra: Collegium Vocale Gent. Director: Philippe Herreweghe.
    • Andreas Scholl >The Voice.
    • 21.

  • BOOK CHOICE

    Teach yourself Ukrainian book

  • LUXURY ITEM

    His garden shed with tools in it

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Henry Marsh

Broadcasts

  • Sun 23 Sep 2018 11:15
    BBC Radio 4
  • Fri 28 Sep 2018 09:00
    BBC Radio 4 FM
  • Fri 28 Sep 2018 09:44
    BBC Radio 4 LW

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