Today’s speaker was Carol Tetlow, giving us a talk entitled “Doctor to Author”.
She is on her way to becoming a well-established author, after devoting her working life to medicine.
She retired 8 years ago from a large GP practice in Harrogate, with 16000 patients, but admits that she fell into medicine almost by accident, being at first unable to decide on any particular career path, much to the disappointment of her parents. Having taken the plunge, she and her fellow students soon realised that life as a trainee doctor bore no resemblance to that portrayed in the popular doctor- type films of her era. After 3 months or so, being somewhat disillusioned at her choice of career, a visit to an operating theatre dramatically changed her opinion, and a surgeon was born. Regrettably, however, the almost total male domination and misogyny, coupled with the lack of patient personal interaction made her realise that surgery was not for her, and she moved into obstetrics and other fields in hospital life. Her interplay with patients was very enjoyable, especially with those who loved practical jokes, like a “Mr.Smith” who, unknown to her, liked to put his thermometer into hot tea. “We are not amused”! He did like jigsaws, though, and after completing one of Buckingham Place told a disbelieving Dr.Tetlow, that his niece occupied one of the rooms visible on the picture. That this was true became evident in 1986, when she received a piece of wedding cake from the wedding of Price Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Unfortunately the dog got there first!.
Her introduction to General Practice came when she was asked to take on locum duties for a weekend in the Orkneys. Her first surgery was totally full, with very well people just coming along to see how the new doctor measured up!
She then took up the offer of the practice in Harrogate, as well as that of police surgeon, and a visit to a training establishment in Ripon provided the first insight into the possibility of writing novels for a living. Finding a literary agent proved very difficult, but she eventually signed a contract with a Canadian publisher, who has now published 5 of her books, and a sixth has now been published by a UK publisher. Indeed the latest novel “Game, Set and Match” involved a book-signing session at Waterstones in Harrogate. A long queue of purchasers proved that her patients valued her writing skills as well as medicinal skills, although they couldn’t resist asking for medical advice, at the same time as having their book signed by the author!