An Irishman’s Diary on Dr John Fleetwood, medic and broadcaster

Dr John Fleetwood is well remembered for his many radio and television appearances; he also happened to be a very popular and well-liked GP in Blackrock, Co Dublin. He had a great gift for combining two careers, one in medicine, the other in the media.

He was born in Edinburgh in 1917, into a well-established Scottish medical family. From Edinburgh, he and his family moved to Plymouth. When he was in his early teens, the family moved to Ireland and he went to Presentation College Bray, progressing to Blackrock College.

Then at 21, when he was studying medicine at UCD, Radio Éireann put on an elaborate programme for rag week and John Fleetwood was in his element. For presenting a 30-minute show, he was paid the grand sum of four guineas.

Cricket

He also wanted to become a cricket commentator on the Dublin station, but one was already in place. Another opportunity presented itself, a competition for contributors to the

Question Time

programme. The trainee doctor was successful, at the age of 21, and a radio career began, lasting for 60 years.

Graduating from UCD in 1941, he became a medical officer in the Local Defence Force, during the Emergency, as well as holding other positions, such as assistant master in the Coombe hospital. From 1944 to 1947, he worked in Dr O’Grady’s practice in Donnybrook, before starting his own practice in Proby Square, Blackrock. One of his four children, John jnr, eventually joined him in the practice, then took it over when his father retired. Today, he is part of the Carysfort Clinic, still in Proby Square.

In his younger days, when Dr Fleetwood snr was doing house calls, if he was in the Sandycove area, he had a habit of taking a little time off for a “dip in the nip” at the Forty Foot.

If he was accompanied by a male medical student, he’d ask them if they wanted to join him – all rather unorthodox for a GP!

In later life, Dr Fleetwood became well- known for his many Sunday Miscellany pieces on RTÉ Radio 1. His mischievous sense of humour was never far distant.

Recently, when I was reading one of his scripts in the Fleetwood collection of papers in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, it was hard to suppress my laughter. The good doctor and his family were holidaying in a remote rural house in Normandy when the drainage system seized up. The owner sent for a local tradesman, who happened to be called Jean- Paul Sartre, a source of much amusement for Dr Fleetwood. But said tradesman managed to blow up the whole system, and as Dr Fleetwood so graphically described, merde was flung everywhere in the house, even the ceiling.

He often appeared on the Late Late Show on television and Gay Byrne recalls that he was very popular with viewers. Dr Fleetwood often demonstrated the Heimlich manoeuvre, to clear the airways of someone who is choking.

Gay Byrne and his wife Kathleen say that even now people come up to them and say that the advice of Dr Fleetwood had saved a loved one’s life.

Dr Fleetwood also wrote extensively, including a number of books, on such subjects as the history of medicine in Ireland and the Irish body snatchers. He also liked to travel a lot and he and his wife Ann O’ Connor – they were together for 55 years – made a pioneering trip to the Soviet Union in 1961. Everywhere he travelled, he shot 8mm colour film.

When RTÉ was doing a television series a decade ago on home movies, Dr Fleetwood’s collection made one of the programmes.

Versatility

His versatility and innovation, both in medicine and the media, knew no bounds and having met him on several occasions in the RTÉ Radio Centre, I can testify to his avuncular approach to life.

His wife predeceased him by five years and he died in 2007, leaving four children and 12 grandchildren.

At the time, one of his granddaughters was studying medicine, making her the fifth generation of medics in the Fleetwood family. One of his passions had been care for the elderly, at a time when the subject was barely considered. He was a cofounder of the Irish Gerontological Society in 1950 and he became an international voice for healthy and active ageing. When he died, he was in his 91st year.