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Doctor in the House #1
Doctor in the House
Richard Gordon’s acceptance into St Swithan’s medical school came as no surprise to anyone, least of all him – after all, he had been to public school, played first XV rugby, and his father was, let’s face it, ‘a St Swithan’s man’. Surely he was set for life. It was rather a shock then to discover that, once there, he would actually have to work, and quite hard. Fortunately for Richard Gordon, life proved not to be all dissection and textbooks after all! This hilarious hospital comedy is perfect reading for anyone who’s ever wondered exactly what medical students get up to in their training. Just don’t read it on your way to the doctor’s!
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
23 people are currently reading
510 people want to read
About the author
Richard Gordon
273 books43 followersRichard Gordon is the pen name used by Gordon Ostlere (born Gordon Stanley Ostlere on September 15, 1921), an English surgeon and anaesthetist. As Richard Gordon, Ostlere has written several novels, screenplays for film and television and accounts of popular history, mostly dealing with the practice of medicine. He is most famous for a long series of comic novels on a medical theme starting with Doctor in the House, and the subsequent film, television 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 anaesthetist at St. Bartholomew's Hospital (where he was a medical student) 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(1949); later published as Ostlere and Bryce-Smith's Anaesthetics for Medical Students in 1989, Anaesthetics and the Patient (1949) and Trichlorethylene Anaesthesia (1953). In 1952, he left medical practice and took up writing full time. He has an uncredited role as an anesthesiologist in the movie Doctor in the House.
The early Doctor novels, set in the fictitious St Swithin's, a teaching hospital in London, were initially 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 to Punch magazine and has published books on medicine, gardening, fishing and cricket.
The film adaptation of Doctor in the House was released in 1954, two years after the book, while Doctor at Sea came out the following year with Brigitte Bardot. Dirk Bogarde starred as Dr. Simon Sparrow in both. The later spin-off TV series were often written by other well-known British comic performers.
Gordon worked as anaesthetist at St. Bartholomew's Hospital (where he was a medical student) 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(1949); later published as Ostlere and Bryce-Smith's Anaesthetics for Medical Students in 1989, Anaesthetics and the Patient (1949) and Trichlorethylene Anaesthesia (1953). In 1952, he left medical practice and took up writing full time. He has an uncredited role as an anesthesiologist in the movie Doctor in the House.
The early Doctor novels, set in the fictitious St Swithin's, a teaching hospital in London, were initially 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 to Punch magazine and has published books on medicine, gardening, fishing and cricket.
The film adaptation of Doctor in the House was released in 1954, two years after the book, while Doctor at Sea came out the following year with Brigitte Bardot. Dirk Bogarde starred as Dr. Simon Sparrow in both. The later spin-off TV series were often written by other well-known British comic performers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
September 29, 2017
A real doctor writing a humor book about medical school life in memoirs style.
There was no actual plot. The novel began as the main protagonist (using the same name as author's name) entered the med school, and the novel ended as the protagonist graduated. Sometimes I felt like I was enjoying a Benny Hill Show.
I read it first time by borrowing this book from a public library. Then this book went missing from the library. Much later I found another copy of this book in a second hand bookstore, and I bought it without hesitation for re-read.
There was no actual plot. The novel began as the main protagonist (using the same name as author's name) entered the med school, and the novel ended as the protagonist graduated. Sometimes I felt like I was enjoying a Benny Hill Show.
I read it first time by borrowing this book from a public library. Then this book went missing from the library. Much later I found another copy of this book in a second hand bookstore, and I bought it without hesitation for re-read.
October 19, 2016
Let me warmly recommend a classic comedy that you will love. This wonderful book by Richard Gordon is truly amusing and gives an insight into what really goes on at medical school. It is based on Richard Gordon's (real doctor by the way) experiences and it makes us realize just how much hard work and training goes into a medical career.
I acquired this book from my father's bookshelf. It was bought by my father in 1958 (oh how I love old books!). A very enjoyable easy light read. Very, very funny and entertaining with enough serious information regarding the medical practices in the 1940's that makes it interesting and amusing as well.
The author has a style all of his own. Gordon takes the reader with him through the lectures, clinics and hospital wards, which are the elements of medical training. The author share the eccentricities of surgeons and amorous adventures of students. We can also learn some of the wisdom of the "Padre" who is the landlord of the students' local.
Richard Gordon shows genuine affection by poking fun without malice at his time in St. Swithens where a bunch of irresponsible students are transformed into doctors. By any standards this is a very readable and enjoyable book.
I acquired this book from my father's bookshelf. It was bought by my father in 1958 (oh how I love old books!). A very enjoyable easy light read. Very, very funny and entertaining with enough serious information regarding the medical practices in the 1940's that makes it interesting and amusing as well.
The author has a style all of his own. Gordon takes the reader with him through the lectures, clinics and hospital wards, which are the elements of medical training. The author share the eccentricities of surgeons and amorous adventures of students. We can also learn some of the wisdom of the "Padre" who is the landlord of the students' local.
Richard Gordon shows genuine affection by poking fun without malice at his time in St. Swithens where a bunch of irresponsible students are transformed into doctors. By any standards this is a very readable and enjoyable book.
June 9, 2024
Much better than I was anticipating. I chose this book to take with me on a trip and I was expecting it to be light and throwaway. It certainly turned out to be light, but it's not throwaway. Richard Gordon was clearly a good writer and now I am rather inclined to read the other books in the series (17 more, apparently). It wasn't as pulpy as I had been led to believe. In fact, it reminded me more of James Herriot's marvellous autobiographical books than of the 'Carry On' films.
May 21, 2018
I read this aged only 12 ys over next few teenage years I read nealy all of them .There has been ITV series writen by Tim Brooke Taylor & Graham Gardner of the Goodies.
We had the great movies with James Robinson Justice as great Sir Lancelot & no one else was right.
The books may now be tame now but in 1950s when came out they were good & This perfect Tribute to 70th Anniversary of NHS & thinking of Dirk Bogart or Leslie Philips being screamed at by Sir Lancelot
We had the great movies with James Robinson Justice as great Sir Lancelot & no one else was right.
The books may now be tame now but in 1950s when came out they were good & This perfect Tribute to 70th Anniversary of NHS & thinking of Dirk Bogart or Leslie Philips being screamed at by Sir Lancelot
May 6, 2015
This is the original book in the Doctor in the House series and deals with his medical training. The Doctor books were written as memoirs, a fiction continued by the author and main character's name being the same. In reality, Dr. Richard Gordon Dr. Gordon Ostlere, a highly-qualified surgeon and anaethetist and contemporary of my uncle who was a reknowned anaethestist himself - but I didn't know that at the time.
April 9, 2014
I read this book over 35 years ago. I was an omnivorous reader with a pretty good municipal library on the outskirts of the local shopping centre. I read everything I could lay my hands on, I was indiscriminate and voracious.
I read one "Doctor" book and then another and then another until I read the whole lot....well as many as the Moonee Valley Library system had anyway.
They were fairly funny books as I hazily remember. They were also easy reads. As the series went on however they lost a lot of puff.
I read one "Doctor" book and then another and then another until I read the whole lot....well as many as the Moonee Valley Library system had anyway.
They were fairly funny books as I hazily remember. They were also easy reads. As the series went on however they lost a lot of puff.
July 31, 2019
It was not as funny as I had already imagined it to be in my head, but it wasn’t that dull that I had to force myself to go on. It got funnier and funnier as the book moved on and some of the incidents towards the end were laugh-out-loud hilarious. It contained a highly endearing and memorable cast of characters.
By the way, reading his description of the examinations, in the end, was the funniest piece of writing I have read in a long time. It was too relatable for words!
By the way, reading his description of the examinations, in the end, was the funniest piece of writing I have read in a long time. It was too relatable for words!
March 31, 2021
A short, light-hearted account of a medical student's progress through the five years from beginning medical studies to graduating and becoming a doctor. The narrator, an eighteen year-old named Richard Gordon (yes, Gordon uses his own name for his protagonist in what I assume is a semi-autobiographical work), joins the fictitious St Swithin's Hospital in London as a student. He soon makes the acquaintances of a very varied lot of people, from wild fellow students to coy (and not so coy) nurses, lunatic doctors and strange patients. And he learns the ropes: not just how to dissect and diagnose and all that, but also the other nuances of being a doctor...
Doctor in the House is not really a story in that there is no proper plot to it. It's basically just a loosely connected series of vignettes, featuring a bunch of delightfully eccentric and/or wild characters, plenty of hilarious incidents, and some very funny insights into being a medical student, or a doctor. Or, actually, a patient: some of Gordon's most hilarious descriptions, for instance of outpatients waiting to meet a specialist, or how a ward is spruced up at Christmas, are exaggerated but ring so true too, for those of us who aren’t doctors.
I have watched the 1954 Dirk Bogarde-starrer Doctor in the House countless times and realized that it was high time I read the book too. There's a lot of difference between the two, but I think both the book and the film (for which Richard Gordon wrote the screenplay) are equally funny in their own individual ways.
Doctor in the House is not really a story in that there is no proper plot to it. It's basically just a loosely connected series of vignettes, featuring a bunch of delightfully eccentric and/or wild characters, plenty of hilarious incidents, and some very funny insights into being a medical student, or a doctor. Or, actually, a patient: some of Gordon's most hilarious descriptions, for instance of outpatients waiting to meet a specialist, or how a ward is spruced up at Christmas, are exaggerated but ring so true too, for those of us who aren’t doctors.
I have watched the 1954 Dirk Bogarde-starrer Doctor in the House countless times and realized that it was high time I read the book too. There's a lot of difference between the two, but I think both the book and the film (for which Richard Gordon wrote the screenplay) are equally funny in their own individual ways.
December 15, 2013
Fun revisiting the student doctors at St Swithens. Some resemblance to the television show on 1969/70, and a quick, enjoyable read.
It is very dated and sexist, but it is a reflection of life and attitudes in the 50s.
It is very dated and sexist, but it is a reflection of life and attitudes in the 50s.
April 2, 2019
Very entertaining but very much a 'specific time and place' book. If Doctor in the House were (as I initially, but fortunately only briefly, thought) nonfiction, it would be slightly horrifying (think Doctors as People Who Only Want to Cut You Open While Drunk), but as fiction it's more of a more grown-up version of good-ole-boys school stories.
Worth noting that women get extremely short shrift in the book; they're either 1) junior nurses whose attractiveness and thus datability is commented on, 2) senior nurses very sensibly making hell for the junior doctors, or 3) a lone female medical student who shows up at the end of the book in the context of her clothing and what her sartorial choices will mean for her ability to pass her final exams. I'm trying to give the book a pass for being written in the 50s...I'm trying...I'm trying...
Worth noting that women get extremely short shrift in the book; they're either 1) junior nurses whose attractiveness and thus datability is commented on, 2) senior nurses very sensibly making hell for the junior doctors, or 3) a lone female medical student who shows up at the end of the book in the context of her clothing and what her sartorial choices will mean for her ability to pass her final exams. I'm trying to give the book a pass for being written in the 50s...I'm trying...I'm trying...
December 21, 2025
This is pure gold. The book that inspired me to study medicine and become a GP. I must have read it two or three times before going to medical school in London where the Governers were obliged ‘to inspect each candidate and allot places solely on the strength of the aptitude they showed for the practice of medicine… a task comparable in difficultly with determining the sex of day-old chicks’. There, my experiences were so in tune with the author’s that I can reassure any readers who might assume that his account of medical school antics is fanciful — if anything it’s incredibly restrained. His description of exam terror (‘something like death’) is in keeping with the recurring nightmares I still suffer. The other candidates ‘wear spectacles and use heavy fountain pens whose barrels reflect their own mental capacity’. At the end of the written paper ‘the porters began tearing papers away from gentlemen dissatisfied with the period allowed for them to express themselves and hoping by an incomplete sentence to give the examiners the impression of frustrated brilliance’. Grimsdyke, the perpetual student, was confident. “I’m not worried… the night before the results come out the old Don totters back from the hall and chucks the lot down the staircase. The ones that stick on the top flight are given firsts, most of them end up on the landing and get seconds, thirds go to the lower flight, and any reaching the ground floor are failed. This system has been working admirably for years without arousing any comment”.
Re-reading the book I have started to get mixed up as to which events happened to him and which to me. At the clinical examination he knows that the best thing to do is ask the patient what is wrong; people with stable and examinable clinical signs are so used to being repeatedly examined by medical students (and getting a cup of tea for it) that they become experts in their own condition. “By the way, my thyroid is slightly enlarged, they like you to notice that”. When I was doing my own finals I was asked to walk a gentleman down the ward and back before commenting on his abnormal gait. As we turned, 20 yards from the examiner, I whispered to him, “Is it a cerebellar stroke?”. “No, Freidrich’s ataxia” he hissed. I passed.
Re-reading the book I have started to get mixed up as to which events happened to him and which to me. At the clinical examination he knows that the best thing to do is ask the patient what is wrong; people with stable and examinable clinical signs are so used to being repeatedly examined by medical students (and getting a cup of tea for it) that they become experts in their own condition. “By the way, my thyroid is slightly enlarged, they like you to notice that”. When I was doing my own finals I was asked to walk a gentleman down the ward and back before commenting on his abnormal gait. As we turned, 20 yards from the examiner, I whispered to him, “Is it a cerebellar stroke?”. “No, Freidrich’s ataxia” he hissed. I passed.
June 19, 2018
Does anyone write books like this any longer? This is a fictionalised account of the author's experiences as a trainee doctor. Characterised by a gentle, good-natured humour, it takes us back to a version of Britain that seems both familiar and distant. A very enjoyable read.
February 17, 2025
This is the first book in the Doctor in the House series, but I ended up reading it out of order—and surprisingly, it didn’t bother me much. The humor and storytelling were engaging enough to stand on their own. That said, I’d love to revisit the series from the beginning and experience it in the intended order.
This book was another hilarious read! Having followed Grimsdyke’s antics in other books, I was slightly surprised by his toned-down mischief in this one. However, it was still entertaining to see how his character evolved, even if he wasn’t as chaotic as usual.
Beyond the humour, the book sheds light on some unsettling aspects of medical practice, including the disturbing reality of doctors performing unnecessary surgeries simply for practice. Even more shocking is the idea of patients being grateful despite the dire consequences. It’s horrifying to think about, yet at times, the lack of alternatives in medicine is a grim reality. No wonder so many readers caution against reading this series before a doctor’s visit!
Despite its darker moments, this book—like the rest of the series—delivers on wit, humor, and sharp observations about the medical profession. Most of the anecdotes had me laughing out loud, and the absurdity of certain situations made this an incredibly fun read. I can’t wait to read more and eventually go through the entire series in order!
This book was another hilarious read! Having followed Grimsdyke’s antics in other books, I was slightly surprised by his toned-down mischief in this one. However, it was still entertaining to see how his character evolved, even if he wasn’t as chaotic as usual.
Beyond the humour, the book sheds light on some unsettling aspects of medical practice, including the disturbing reality of doctors performing unnecessary surgeries simply for practice. Even more shocking is the idea of patients being grateful despite the dire consequences. It’s horrifying to think about, yet at times, the lack of alternatives in medicine is a grim reality. No wonder so many readers caution against reading this series before a doctor’s visit!
Despite its darker moments, this book—like the rest of the series—delivers on wit, humor, and sharp observations about the medical profession. Most of the anecdotes had me laughing out loud, and the absurdity of certain situations made this an incredibly fun read. I can’t wait to read more and eventually go through the entire series in order!
November 25, 2024
Ich hab mit Medizin nix am Hut, fand das Buch aber ziemlich gut und konnte mich wunderbar in die Personen hinein versetzen. Echt tolles lese Erlebnis gewesen
November 2, 2019
sıfır beklentiyle basladıgım icin hosuma gitti...
October 20, 2013
Great fun. I remember vaguely the TV series from the seventies and thus wanted to see what the book was like. I wanted to give it a higher rating, but it's all relative, and it's not high art by any means.
But this is a fun read; not hilariously side-splittingly funny, but genuinely amusing, and obviously from someone who's been there.
No blood and guts, just medical student hijinx, beer drinking, falling foul of hospital authorities, and trying to get a leg over with the opposite sex. Makes you wish you had done well enough at school to take up medicine.
But this is a fun read; not hilariously side-splittingly funny, but genuinely amusing, and obviously from someone who's been there.
No blood and guts, just medical student hijinx, beer drinking, falling foul of hospital authorities, and trying to get a leg over with the opposite sex. Makes you wish you had done well enough at school to take up medicine.
September 27, 2014
When I first began reading books, Doctor stories were an genre like Westerns or Murder Mysteries. In this era, Richard Gordon was the king of the genre. Some Doctor practicing or retired with a literary bent should try to revive the genre, as Dr. Gordon's works are now decidedly dated. Read it if you discover an old copy in lying about in the tool shed or in the outhouse at your lake property.
February 15, 2021
A nostalgic and lighthearted medical student’s memoir. Richard Gordon was considered master of the “Doctor” genre, publishing a series of comedic books on the theme. Dr in the House was further popularised by the 1954 film adaptation. It would be interesting to compare the much lauded modern day version “This is going to hurt” by Adam Kay.
June 4, 2012
A nice broadly humorous look at a young man's journey to becoming a doctor in mid-20th Century London. The scenes lent themselves to a screenplay and the movie starred Dirk Bogarde. Both are dated in many ways but very enjoyable if that isn't an issue for you.
December 5, 2010
Can remember the films from a kid and loved them but the book was a good easy read, will tackle the rest of the set one by one.
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March 24, 2016I read this thirty years ago and now with a son who is a medical student I revisited it. Still true in parts and still made me laugh.
December 31, 2016
Loved the book, makes one nostalgic.. the good old college days.. The last few chapters had me laughing out loud...
December 31, 2016
Read this years ago and really pleased to have read it again. Wonderful book.
October 16, 2017
Well obviously you couldn’t publish this today, but it raised a smile or two
December 23, 2017
I loved this book, it’s very funny though a bit absurd and I certainly hope medical schools are a bit more effective institutions.
August 18, 2021
Very enjoyable ride through the life of a student doctor in the fifties.
February 29, 2020
Hilarious and entertaining!
September 14, 2020
Really funny and sometimes so recognisable.
October 20, 2019
I considered giving this a single star as I chose it on the basis of it's being a comic novel. It is not. I laughed not at all and smiled very few times. But the book does have other qualities. Publshed in 1951 it gives an interesting view of a London hospital and medical education during that time of recovery.
The book also gives a clear view of the contempt doctors feel for patients, for nurses, for people in common and in fact for everyone who is not a doctor - and even for many of them.
Speaking of an out-patient with a chronic headache who has been shuffled from department to department where no one has been able to help him: "From the physiotherapy department the patient went as a last resort to the psychiatrists, and as they were then unable to transfer him to anyone he probably continued to visit them and talk about his headaches once a week for the remainder of his life" (p.137) Lack of sympathy? I think.
A fellow student and house-mate, Benskin, has gotten drunk and proposed to one of the night nurses.
"'... Oh God, oh God!' He clasped his head. 'It'll be all round the hospital by nine o'clock.'
'I gather you're not keen on the idea of marrying her?'
'Me! Married! Can you see it?' he exclaimed.
I nodded my head understandingly and propped myself up on an elbow.
'This needs some thought.' ...
After about twenty minutes I had an idea... 'I think I've got the answer,' I said, and explained it to him.
He leapt to his feet, shook me warmly by the hand, and hurried back to the ward.
The solution was a simple one. I sent Benskin round to propose to every night nurse in the hospital." (p.140-1).
The students are poor - even though they receive allowances.
"...My tastes had altered expensively since I first arrived at st. Swithin's, though my allowance had stayed much the same. Then I smoked a little, drank hardly at all, and never went out with girls; now I did all three together..." (p.145)
Surprisingly several of the doctors in spe wash dishes at west end restaurants in order to get their microscopes out of hock. This I found commendable. This same Benskin, though, is not satisfied with that. Treating a patient he learns the man has been chauffeur to a wealthy old couple, and as the man is seriously ill, he manages to get the job himself.
On a tour north he gets drunk and "'I piled the crate (a Rolls) up in a ditch. I didn't hurt myself, luckily, but now the old couple are languishing in the local cottage hospital with a fractured femur apiece.'
He added that he did not see much chance of the engagement being renewed." (p.148) Not that funny...
I will not be reading other Richard Gordon novels.
The book also gives a clear view of the contempt doctors feel for patients, for nurses, for people in common and in fact for everyone who is not a doctor - and even for many of them.
Speaking of an out-patient with a chronic headache who has been shuffled from department to department where no one has been able to help him: "From the physiotherapy department the patient went as a last resort to the psychiatrists, and as they were then unable to transfer him to anyone he probably continued to visit them and talk about his headaches once a week for the remainder of his life" (p.137) Lack of sympathy? I think.
A fellow student and house-mate, Benskin, has gotten drunk and proposed to one of the night nurses.
"'... Oh God, oh God!' He clasped his head. 'It'll be all round the hospital by nine o'clock.'
'I gather you're not keen on the idea of marrying her?'
'Me! Married! Can you see it?' he exclaimed.
I nodded my head understandingly and propped myself up on an elbow.
'This needs some thought.' ...
After about twenty minutes I had an idea... 'I think I've got the answer,' I said, and explained it to him.
He leapt to his feet, shook me warmly by the hand, and hurried back to the ward.
The solution was a simple one. I sent Benskin round to propose to every night nurse in the hospital." (p.140-1).
The students are poor - even though they receive allowances.
"...My tastes had altered expensively since I first arrived at st. Swithin's, though my allowance had stayed much the same. Then I smoked a little, drank hardly at all, and never went out with girls; now I did all three together..." (p.145)
Surprisingly several of the doctors in spe wash dishes at west end restaurants in order to get their microscopes out of hock. This I found commendable. This same Benskin, though, is not satisfied with that. Treating a patient he learns the man has been chauffeur to a wealthy old couple, and as the man is seriously ill, he manages to get the job himself.
On a tour north he gets drunk and "'I piled the crate (a Rolls) up in a ditch. I didn't hurt myself, luckily, but now the old couple are languishing in the local cottage hospital with a fractured femur apiece.'
He added that he did not see much chance of the engagement being renewed." (p.148) Not that funny...
I will not be reading other Richard Gordon novels.
April 27, 2023
Leído en su versión castellana que no he encontrado en goodreads.
También he leído: Un médico anda suelto, un médico en la abundancia, el verano de sir Lancelot, un médico maníaco y un médico en cueros , que no aparecen catalogados en goodreads.
Todos ellos novelas de comedía, se supone, aunque yo diría que son divertidas, aunque cuando todo les sale tan mal te sientes un poco decepcionada pues está como muy irreal, muy disparatado. Todos los libros están localizados en el hospital St. Swithin´s, testigo de médicos, enfermeras, estudiantes, con dos personajes que aparecen en todos los libros, el cirujano cascarrabias de Lancelot y el decano Lionel.
También he leído: Un médico anda suelto, un médico en la abundancia, el verano de sir Lancelot, un médico maníaco y un médico en cueros , que no aparecen catalogados en goodreads.
Todos ellos novelas de comedía, se supone, aunque yo diría que son divertidas, aunque cuando todo les sale tan mal te sientes un poco decepcionada pues está como muy irreal, muy disparatado. Todos los libros están localizados en el hospital St. Swithin´s, testigo de médicos, enfermeras, estudiantes, con dos personajes que aparecen en todos los libros, el cirujano cascarrabias de Lancelot y el decano Lionel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews