I mean, Jerry was a wonderful guy. He was fantastic neurologist.
He was a very good teacher. He was able to stand over people and watched and operate, which most people find quite difficult.
And he would come in and just watch someone at any time of day or night.
John was a very bright man, incredible raconteur and.
I remember as an essay when I came down from I worked for Valentine Loeb,
then the first case I clocked on a Sunday was a lady with an acoustic neuroma and the Monday morning board round,
Joe said to John Potter, John, you take this case because Joe didn't like the acoustics and gave more to John Potter.
And so I presented this lady and John Potter said to me, well, what would you do?
And I said, well, I'm afraid that's the right thing. And he went for me.
You know, my first walk around in front of everybody was a ground round.
And he really went for me and I ordered it.
Anyway, I he said, no, we're not going to operate on.
He he always tried to find a way of avoiding operation if he could.
And eventually what he did was to do an capture, capsular removal of this tumour, not taking out the outside palm.
And that meant it would inevitably recur.
And he didn't do that for about six months when the tumour was quite big.
And just as amusing anecdote, when I came back as a consultant, I had this lady who I remember well, very nice lady came back and I had to operate.
Yes. And the total removal and unfortunately gave her a facial.
But we could then hitch the do a facial hyperarousal anastomosis, which gave her an acceptable face.
But yeah, Joe John did not like operating in.
One of his great things was there comes a time in an operation when you have to throw your hat at it.
And my my heart always drops this way.
And I heard these words because I knew that it meant the big sucker went in.
I have very damaged patient would come out the other end road and doing aneurisms with John Potter, which was the Friday afternoon business,
was again, he hated the operating on Berstein, which is of course, in those days and is no operating microscope.
But inevitably the aneurysm would rupture, the blood would hit the ceiling, would be screaming and shouting and clips on everywhere.
Oh, just terrible.
But when I was I said, Joe, I got very interested in the operating microscope and I got a brain from the past department and in my spare time,
got to borrow the operating microscope, which was hanging around and used to practise because you had to not look at your hands.
And if you were looking down binocular binoculars in effect, and your hands were down here,
but you and you had to maintain 3-D and you were looking down a light and it was magnificent.
It was fantastic. Anyway, Joe said to me in the presence of John, uh, what do you think of the operating microscope?
I said, I think it's fantastic. It's the future I have, because he was going to support, again, to Zurich for a course.
And John Potter again. I said, terrible, terrible.
The operating microscope operations will take much longer.
The infection rate will be more. And so I of course, they transform.
Neurosurgery is fantastic and operating on aneurysms.
Was it was it became so safe and streamlined and it was in the pituitary space and of course, the pituitary everything.
One one got magnification. You were looking down a beam of light instead of squinting down a narrow hole.
Oh, it was it was such a big advance.
But of course, when I started the investigation, the patients was really quite tricky.
We had er encephalogram which meant doing a lumbar puncture and pushing as much er up as you could and then somersaulting the patients.
The X-ray department is all doing a bow and a ventricular ground or an angiogram.
And I was very fortunate when I arrived here to have Phillips who was a fantastic.
Colleague and a fantastic new radiologist, like all radiologists, he hated admitting that he was wrong.
But I liked it. Oh, yes. And he was a fantastic colleague as a very young neurosurgeon, doing operations I had not seen before,
and but I had quite a tricky time with the guy who I liked enormously.
A very young chap was running the show, which I really enjoyed, it was a fantastic challenge, and as Dick was waving goodbye,
he said, Oh, by the way, I accepted that the European Society of Neurosurgeons will have their meeting in Oxford next year.
So, you know, I was faced with doing all the surgery and running a unit trying to maintain
this fantastic reputation that Oxford had for neurosurgery and organise this.
Well, we'll get on to the.