I was born in Wellington, with one sister Pauline who later specialised in Intensive Care nursing, to Harold Iver and Ruth Allison (nee Grenside). My paternal grandparents were from Norway and maternal from Norfolk, immigrants in common with many New Zealand families in the late 1800s. My father was Chairman of a major advertising agency and leader in the administration of amateur sport in New Zealand for many years for which he was awarded a CBE in 1972.  My marriage in 1969 to Angela Harvie was dissolved in 1983. In 1987 I married Margaret Harrison (nee Hales) a nurse from Christchurch. We have a son who is a rheumatologist and 2 daughters with 7 grandchildren.

I attended the Miramar South Primary School and Wanganui Collegiate before beginning my medical training at Victoria University in Wellington. This was completed in 1957 at the University of Otago School of Medicine, after which I had junior medical posts at Wellington Hospital. In 1961, a time when the RACP was still young, I travelled aboard mv Port Pirie as ship’s doctor to London and attained membership of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1963. During this time, when the usual treatment for acute coronary artery disease involved 2 weeks bedrest and 4 weeks in hospital, I had posts at the Central Middlesex, Mayday and Hammersmith Hospitals where I met and was inspired in gastroenterology by Dr Chris Booth. A research fellowship was arranged with Dr Alan Read at the Bristol Royal Infirmary leading on to a similar position for 18 months in North Carolina at Duke University Medical Centre with Dr Mal Tyor. Work at that time was to establish the critical role of the ileum in the recirculation of bile salts.

I returned to work at Wellington Hospital for the next 30 years. My initial appointment was as Specialist and Tutor in Medicine, subsequently Deputy Director of the Medical Unit with Dr Ian Prior, and Supervisor of the Intern Year as amalgamation with the Otago Medical School was taking place. Gradually my work became more clinically oriented at a time when traditional barium studies of the gastrointestinal tract were being dramatically superseded by fibreoptic technology. With Dr Brian Scobie, I saw the passing of the semi-rigid gastroscope of the day and the establishment of gastroenterology services in the Hospital, where I remained as Gastroenterologist and Visiting Physician.

All staff however were involved to some degree in teaching and my involvement with the RACP included time as Honorary Treasurer for New Zealand (1986 to 1990) and membership, later Chair, of the NZ Grants Advisory Subcommittee. In association with Foreign Affairs I spent a month teaching at the Medical School in Fiji and reported on medical services in that country. I have authored of more than twenty published medical articles.

Most of the visiting staff of Wellington Hospital practised in private for 1 or 2 days per week and I was no exception. As my rooms were situated in the AMP Building in the city, an interest in insurance medicine was facilitated. This led to my appointment as CMO for the AMP (NZ) Society, as well as Swiss Re Life and Health and Chief Medical Adviser to Shell (NZ) Ltd. In addition, I was at one time President of the NZ Society of Gastroenterology, the Medico-Legal Society of Wellington, the Wellington Division of the Medical Association of New Zealand and the Rotary Club of Wellington Central. 

Always with an interest in sport, I played tennis and squash in earlier days but this gave way to weekly golf at the Wellington, now Royal Wellington Golf Club. Playing mostly off a handicap of 11, probably my major claim to fame was as Intermediate Champion in 1983. Enjoyment in early life of music led to my support of Opera and the Arts. Also, when much younger, I had spent many holidays on a farm where as well as handling animals, acquired skills in mechanical repairs.

As clinical work reduced and the financial situation in New Zealand became conducive, I bought, and was able to manage a 4.5 hectare property, 1 hour north of Wellington. I established an orchard producing avocados, kiwi fruit and Tahitian limes, which involved spending part of most weekends there and lasted some 20 years. My interest in horticulture persists.