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And, um, I think it's time for a Yankee. It's a great pleasure to introduce Doctor Steve Johnson, a former alumnus of French and, uh, who's practice his neurosurgical career in Denver has been a fabulous host to quite a few of us here. He's an outstanding skier and almost impossible to keep up with Steve. Thank you very much, Rick. I would like to say, uh, just in remembrance of Rashid Gemma that, uh, he, he always sort of typified to me the, uh, the uh well educated world traveling, uh British neurosurgeon who came to uh Colorado in the spring and demonstrated great ability on the ski slopes in the morning and then a similar ability on the Gulf, uh uh course the same afternoon. So, uh, but, uh, came from Pakistan, not from the UK. So, uh, interesting. So I'd like to just briefly, uh, represent the Tennessee contingent, uh, that came through Bristol, uh really beginning with, uh Dr Robertson, my, my chairman, I'm gonna describe my, uh, entry to French a in 76 at a house officer. And then I'm gonna ask Clarence Wa Tritch to uh, talk a little bit about 1979 when he came really as the first resident uh from the University of Tennessee. And then I'll mention a few things about coming back to uh Bristle in 83 as a locum consultant, sort of slash fellow. Uh um for a few months. It's exciting uh to be uh here in Bristol, uh home of uh Archie Leach who uh overcame a difficult childhood. And then, uh in California became uh Cary Grant. It's also fun to be close to the home of Wallace and Gromit and uh Aardman studios and uh close to Clifton College, which has uh many famous um graduates including uh one John Cheese who uh has friends in L A call him Jack Cheese, but is better known as the uh Money Pythons. John Cleese who is a graduate of Clifton. Yes. So uh Doctor Wattret and I attended uh public high schools in Tennessee that we're not quite equivalent to Clifton. Mine was located two miles down highway 51 from uh Graceland Elvis. Home. Anybody been to Graceland uh here in uh a few, right? Uh So then I, I headed off to one of the smaller Ivy League colleges from Memphis, came back for medical school at the University of Tennessee where we went straight through uh for our training. Um And then uh I did a uh rotating or flexible internship uh following my years in medical school. Uh the two groups of residents that I was impressed with in Memphis were the Camel Clinic group, uh orthopedic residents and the Sims Murphy group for representing the University of Tennessee neurosurgery. Um And it was said that in the 19 forties, Willis Campbell and used to SIMS got together and uh decided as gentleman that the neurosurgery uh side of the university would pursue a disc disease problems. Uh And the orthopedic guys would uh look after the fusion uh patient's. So I was introduced to the Sims Murphy Clinic and came to learn that uh use two Sims who was the first neurosurgeon in Tennessee. Um had an interesting background. He went to Christian brothers high school in Memphis and then he attended the University of Missouri, uh where one of his uh college roommates was Walter Dandy. Uh following his uh time at Missouri, he went to a reasonably young Johns Hopkins medical school. Um And uh his first full year after medical school, he spent most of the year with Harvey Cushing. Uh He was in New York briefly uh for a year after that and then came to Memphis uh in 1912. And uh following uh World War One, he was the first uh neurosurgeon, uh the first uh surgeon in Tennessee to pursue neurosurgery full time. So, uh following my flexible internship, uh I was asked to visit with Dr Robertson and I had applied to uh the neurosurgery residency. Uh and I explained to him that I had been uh pretty uh active in and academic issues and was a bit burned out and was looking for a way to, uh, perhaps get away from the grind for a while. Uh, Dr Robertson had been in Shiraz Iran in 1973 and met Hugh Griffith. Um, and so when I talked about the possibility of, uh, getting off the treadmill for a bit, he was quite, um, uh, excited about the notion of having me come to uh UK and meet his friend, Hugh Griffith and uh work as a House officer at French. Eh, with time I began to, to see the two of them together as a very energetic and uh like minded uh sort of fellows uh in the United States. There uh is a fellow named Yvon Chouinard who uh founded Patagonia and uh Doug Tompkins who founded the North Face in a spree. And uh they had a small group that were called the Du Bois um or maybe maybe the Doobies uh if they uh based on recreational issues. Uh but the uh the Du Bois sort of uh to me, uh Du Bois of neurosurgery were Hugh Griffith and uh Jim Robertson, they had a lot of energy when together uh and they were like minded in terms of pursuing new ideas, pretty entrepreneurial and very energetic. So I um I was quite pleased to uh come to Europe for the first time and actually work as a House Officer at French in the fall of 1976 I lived at the hospital. Um I was treated very kindly by everyone at French. Eh, I was uh, I was a bit surprised at the physical setting at French. A when I first arrived, it looks like what we would sort of call a cottage hospital in the American South or uh farming hospital, maybe in the, in the flatlands in Nebraska. But once I got into the hospital and actually became a part of uh what was going on there, I was quite impressed with the efficiency and the the ability of uh all the surgical staff as well as the nursing care in the light, the consultants. At that point, we're uh Doug Phillips, Alan Hume. Uh Mr Griffith had come to French and 67. So he had been there for nine years and Hugh uh Brian Cummins had started in 73. So he's in his third year there. Um I was, I was young, significant kindness, especially by an cummins who invited me to the uh the Old vic, which I learned later was the the oldest continuous theater in the English speaking world. And I saw the Great British Play uh Oklahoma. Uh um Derek weighed was also house Officer there and was very kind to me inviting me to a weekend in Wales. Um And then a casual conversation I had with Brian Cummins actually influenced uh my later neurosurgical care. We were talking about skin prep and uh Brian had told me that uh there was a study recently that had demonstrated that alcohol for two minutes actually uh allowed for fewer bacteria on the skin than any other uh sort of uh ingredient. And I later used that, uh I felt that that was very helpful in my practice that I had a very low infection rate. So, uh after 2.5 months or so, as a house officer at French, a um uh I was able to go off to Zurich uh and spend time sitting in a Professor Yasser Gills uh operating room watching him clip multiple aneurysms uh with his very capable team that included sister Diana, who was a British uh uh scrub nurse and later became his wife. Um I completed the fall in uh with a trip back to Seattle to start my general surgery. Um and uh in Memphis, uh started the program nearly four years after I finished medical school and was the first class at uh Sims Murphy to do uh five years rather than four and probably the last two. not really use pedicle screws. The, the first actual resident then who came to uh French, eh, as part of the training program was Doctor Wa Tritch. So I'll ask clearance to uh describe his time at French in 1979 Clarence was the chairman of Sims Murphy for 13 years, but more importantly, he was the champion Apple Bobber at the cummins Halloween Christmas party and Halloween of 1979. Doctor Wattret, thanks D so uh Steve's performance as a house officer in 1976 that actually opened the door for many of us who came later to experience the neurosurgical unit at French, a hospital. It was in May of 1979 when my chief doctor Robertson, who was the friend of Mr Griffith called me to his office and he says, Clarence, would you like to go to French, a hospital in Bristol England for uh an exchange to be the senior registrar for a period. My wife was delivering, she's now my 51st year wife uh was delivering our second child and I'll talk to her in the hospital and ask her and she said, when do I pack? So we came over in 1979 with 222 and three quarter year old son and a four month old little gal and had a wonderful experience. I'd like to tell you about my impressions of the consultants. I've got lots and lots of stories. I could stand here and talk all day about stories, but from the eyes of a really green young budding neurosurgeon. These were the guys that influenced me in a great way and I'd just like to give you a few comments about the consultants at that time. You've heard about Mr Griffith, Mr Thorne's Mr Cummins and, and a little bit about your in Ednor but here just a few words to describe what, what I saw as a uh us see chief resident come in as a senior registrar. So Mr Griffith, I saw as the prototypical English gentleman, his demeanor while not hostile was proper and mostly business. Like to me, his demeanor and intellect could impressive on you just how ignorant you might be. However, he was a superb technician, he was inquisitive and pursued his dreams in an aggressive way. He was an excellent teacher and he was a diligent position. Mr Cummins. Well, you would never address Mr Griffith as Hugh. It felt almost natural to address Mr Cummins as Brian. He was a gregarious and jovial gentleman who shared whatever he could with others, his knowledge, food, cars, house and war. His interest in the classics and history permeated his daily life and influence. He had a keen interest in cervical spondylosis. And I remember doing numerous multilevel anterior cervical Cloward procedures for cervical myelopathy. I wouldn't describe that as a a meticulous, gentle technique. Um and he had learned the Cloward anterior cervical decompression infusion and he employed it with enthusiasm. Yorn Ednor was the low comms uh consultant from the Caroline SCCA. And apparently at the Caroline SCA you specialize in sort of one aspect of neurosurgery almost to the, to the point that I do right, internal carotid artery aneurysms. I don't do left. Mr Ednor was a superb aneurysm surgeon, but his interest in time talents for spinal disease were few. He was almost disinterested. He would staff are spine surgeries but mostly depended on the registrars and, and the house officers for the care and the surgical procedures. He was fairly young at the stage and served as a consultant but was not necessarily one of the home team. Having the opportunity to work with him was an added bonus as he brought something extra again outside of the French uh Bristol neurosurgical world. I have remained friends with your in through the years uh and have seen him at, at several meetings over the time, Mr Torrance. Uh we know uh Mr Torrance as a uh senior registrar kind of coming in from the outside. This is how our interaction was as I remember he had this air of intelligence and cerebral nous if you will. He was always very thoughtful. It was difficult to know what he was thinking. Uh some discussion between the registrars, house officers and Mr Torrance uh made the house staff question their own intelligence. Mr Mr Torrance had a way of suggestion that you might need quote special school in quote without really saying it, it was not too uncommon to make a comment uh to him and see the look on his face that indicated you could have kept your mouth shut. Others might wonder about your intelligence, but with opening your mouth, all doubt about your lack of intelligence had been removed. He was a superb technician. Always considered the next move and had interest outside of the ordinary quite uh a leader. My time, our time at French, eh, was formative for my neurosurgical career, life and life in general. And I shall never uh belittle it. I shall hold it with great esteem as it has been. It means so much to me. Thank you. So I spent three years in Memphis uh on various rotations. And then uh at the end of my third year, I was sent to New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center where Doctor Patterson had fired his uh fourth year resident. So, uh, Doctor Robertson asked me to go there where I took uh every other night call for a year. Uh I came back then to Memphis and in the spring of 83 I heard uh by way of Dr Robertson that uh Brian Cummins would like to take a few months off and they were looking for a possible replacement for a few months, somebody to come to French, eh? Uh, later I learned that they really wanted Doctor Wa Tritch to come back to, uh French. I don't think they were looking for doctor Johnson at that point, but uh I was the man available. So in the fall of 83 I came back as a locum consultant, sort of a slash fellow. Uh, two French, eh. Um, and uh I took Brian's place, seeing patient's and uh doing surgery. Uh I I also became one of the uh cummins son's uh along with Sean and Jason. So I, I lived in the uh in Evan Coid. Um I was in there uh Brian and aunts guest room. I was served a cup of tea every morning by uh uh the senior consultant, Mr Cummins. I rode my bike then onto French a hospital and uh attack the day. Um I would occasionally uh come home a little bit late, but I was always uh served a delicious meal by an cummins and in the quiet of the kitchen, she would remind me uh on occasion, uh Doctor Johnson, you really need to learn to do a suboccipital craniectomy a little bit faster and, and come home on time. So I, I took that to heart. Um and again, I found that uh the workings of French, they were quite amazing. I had come from Memphis where uh Clarence eventually became chief of staff of uh 2000 bed hospital with modern ors and that sort of thing. And uh looking first at French a, you're a bit disappointed, but once you actually got into the workings of the hospital was extremely efficient and has been mentioned before, the environment was really very friendly. Uh I had uh rotated through neurosurgical units in Seattle, Memphis, New York and Zurich. And I found Frenchie the most um friendly and uh the least political of all those cities that I had previously worked in uh which was very gratifying. I really, I really function more as a fellow than a, than a consultant. Brian would occasionally come in and scrub with me. Uh We uh took out a moderately large acoustic neuroma and a young woman uh that he helped with and preserve the seventh nerve. Uh I can still remember making rounds and seeing the yellow Brian's yellow tag on a younger woman with an acute subarachnoid hemorrhage and enter communicating artery aneurysm. Uh took her to the or and uh occasionally the door would open from the corridor to the or and Mr Griffith would stick his head in and uh asked if I had found the aneurysm yet. So eventually I did and we clicked it and, and she did well, the three registers that I worked with during that period of time, we're uh rashid Juma, Tom Russell and uh som Rajab Ali from uh Iran. So I later thought back and wondered if it was pretty uh unique experience for uh a young American to work very productively with uh colleagues from Pakistan, Scotland and uh Iran. So I thought that might have been a unique experience. So, uh Brian spent a moderate amount of time working on his head injury data, but almost an equal amount of time trying to arrange for an American football game between the uh some of us at French, eh, and uh the local US Air Force Base, which wasn't too far away um, unfortunately that didn't work out. So we never had to play the game. Uh, it's important to notice that Doctor Robertson wasn't the first, uh, Tennesseean, uh, to influence French. And that, uh, Joseph Pennybacker was an American who for 19 years was chairman at Oxford and, uh, instrumental in training both Brian and Hugh Griffith Pennybacker grew up in Danville, Kentucky, but he, his family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee where he went to high school and he attended the University of Tennessee there. So things were, I think going reasonably well uh through the mid portion of that fall, uh until one Wednesday on, on Wednesday rounds, uh Young Scottish orthopedic surgeon appeared for the rounds, uh named Gordon Waddle. Uh We, the house officers presented all the patient's including one of my patients who have been operated on a couple of days prior and then we retreated to the conference room and uh Mr Waddell uh delivered his uh paper that was the 1979 A Volvo award in Clinical Sciences. It's, it was entitled Non Organic Physical Signs and Low back pain. And uh, unfortunately, uh, Doctor Waddell had recognized that my patient I had operated uh two days before, had most of the major signs of a non organic problem, uh and might well not uh benefit long term from my uh surgical intervention. So it was a little, uh little embarrassing for me at that point. Uh I was able to attend the SPNS meeting in the Liverpool that fall. And uh, as part of the outing, we were able to play the, uh, the Royal Liverpool, a golf course which will host the open championship next month here in the UK. And as it turns out, it was the first contesting of the Dutton Quay, a cup that was donated by Mr Dutton. And uh, Brian Cummins was proud to, uh, as he described, put Mr Simunek a twit because he convinced Mr Simond that I was a, a very good golfer and would very likely win the Dutton Quay as the first at the first contesting of the cup which uh Mr Simond was very upset about, uh but that didn't happen. I didn't win the golf tournament, so you don't have to worry about that. The, the year uh ended on a high note when um for the annual Christmas party, uh Rashid Juma was able to uh secure a piano player and uh we had a bit of a rose for the uh for consultants, uh Rashid Juma playing Mr Griffith and I played uh Mr Cummins and we uh we adapted the Gilbert and Sullivan song uh from HMS Penna for, for, he is an English man to uh uh for he himself has said it and it's greatly to his credit that he is a brain surgeon rather than the English man. So, uh that was, that was fun. So, uh I ended my time at French eh, as one of four consultants for uh 2.5 million uh patient's in the southwest of England and moved to a Denver, Colorado where I was one of 30 neurosurgeons for the 2.5 million patients' along the front range of Colorado. But I uh I look back at my time at French, eh, as being extremely valuable both in 76 and an 83. Um and I have since enjoyed the fellowship of skiing with uh colleagues uh Mr Sanderman and Mr Nelson and especially Brian Cummins who would come back to uh Colorado intermittently. Um Brian and I shared a great love of the mountains of the rocky mountain west and it was always fun to see him back. Um And I, I salute the, the wives of neurosurgeons uh both in the UK and the US, but especially uh salute the person who made my stay at French uh extremely enjoyable and valuable. And that was an cummins in 1983. Thank you.