When John Keats trained as an apothecary, medicines were made from plants, heavy metals or other natural products,

Many reviews of my novel mention how readers were fascinated by the descriptions of medicine 200 years ago.

I never had any illusions that I wanted to be a surgeon. Blood, gore and heroics didn’t appeal to me, but medical students are required to study surgery as well as medicine.

One day at the end of a busy GP surgery, I logged on to the North Middlesex Hospital website