Richard Gordon (author)

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For other persons of the same name, see Richard Gordon.

Richard Gordon (1921-) is a British author and doctor, most famous for a long series of comic novels on a medical theme starting with Doctor in the House, and their film, television and stage adaptations. His The Alarming History of Medicine was published in 1993, and he followed this with The Alarming History of Sex.

The early Doctor novels, set in the fictitious St Swithin's, a teaching hospital in London, were initially witty and apparently autobiographical; later books included more sexual innuendo and farce. The novels were very successful in Britain in Penguin paperback during the 1960s and 1970s. Although they are still often reprinted, this popularity has not endured. Richard Gordon also contributed to Punch magazine and has published books on medicine, gardening, fishing and cricket.

The film of Doctor in the House was released in 1954, two years after the book, while Doctor at Sea came out the following year with Brigitte Bardot. Dirk Bogarde starred as Dr. Simon Sparrow in both. The later spin-off TV series were often written by other well-known British comic performers.