Thomas Leopold Venables was a general practitioner in Nottinghamshire. He was born in Manchester, the son of Thomas Harold Venables, a university porter, and Gertrude Elsie Venables. He was educated at William Hulme’s Grammar School in Manchester and then carried out his National Service in the Royal Air Force before taking up a place at Downing College, Cambridge, to read medicine. He went on to Westminster Hospital Medical School for his clinical studies.

From 1964 to 1965 he was a house physician and then a house surgeon at Westminster Hospital. He subsequently spent five years in the Royal Air Force as a medical officer. He gained his MRCP in 1970 and in the same year went to Nottingham as a general practitioner, where he remained until his retirement. He became a principal in general practice in Calverton, just outside Nottingham.

He trained undergraduates and was an examiner for the Royal College of General Practitioners. He was a strong supporter of the Nottingham Medico Chirurgical Society and served as president in 1996.

Outside medicine, he enjoyed travelling. He went to China, where he studied traditional Chinese medicine. He worked as a ship’s doctor during his holidays and was an accompanying doctor on railway journeys in Siberia, India, China and Mongolia. He was also interested in medical history and was a member of the John Snow Society, the Osler Club and the Society of Apothecaries. He became an authority on the Shackleton polar expeditions.

He was survived by his wife, two children and a granddaughter.

RCP editor

[BMJ 2013 346 2299 – accessed 14 May 2016]