In the early hours of a winter morning in 1930 I was summoned to Sydney Hospital to attend a man with a perforated duodenal ulcer. The RMO concerned was Douglas Anderson. Over coffee after the operation we had a good talk about surgery, chess, humour and books; we soon found that Herrick was one of our favourite poets and he entertained me by reciting some of his poems. Douglas and I, and our wives, had an unbroken friendship of forty years after this unusual beginning. In 1968 Douglas and Vincentia visited us in Reading, England. Of late Douglas had noted some loss of vision and an ophthalmologist found vascular damage to his retinas. His health failed steadily and he died in November 1970 after a series of minor strokes. Throughout his illness he retained his customary vivacity, but he as well as his friends noticed his loss of interest not long before his death. In the forty years of friendship we enjoyed much in common - literature, the theatre, good food and wine and a relish for humour and wit. One of our innocent recreations was chess (amateurish). It was worth losing a game just to see his joy on winning; when he lost he would hold his head in sorrow, but never in anger.

From time to time I saw some of his patients in consultation. With few exceptions they told me of their confidence in him and of his sympathy with their troubles, not all of them medical. In general he was popular with his students and colleagues, who appreciated his teaching methods and his exhilarating and occasionally overlong consultations. He showed imagination and skill by making his own Christmas cards, with his own illustrations and apt comments. He was a votary of Punch and had a complete set of bound copies. In a letter of condolence to Mrs Anderson the Punch librarian said: `I shall miss being able to consult him about Punch; he was really an expert'. I am not tabulating his academic and professional achievements as they have already been recorded and they would add nothing of value to these personal impressions of a good man, an able physician and a proven friend.