Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Preface
- 1 Early life and training
- 2 London 1946—54
- 3 Appointment to the Glasgow Chair
- 4 Glasgow obstetrics in the Fifties
- 4 Sharing Enthusiasm: A textbook – and a teacher – with a difference
- 5 The Western Infirmary Wards G9 and 10
- 6 The cutting edge – in the operating theatre
- 7 The Queen Mother's Hospital
- 8 Science and Serendipity: Ultrasound takes off
- 9 Home life and hobbies
- 10 “Naught for your comfort”: social reform and medical ethics in a changing world
- 11 “At the receiving end”: courage and faith
- 12 “The evening cometh”: international fame, continued battle with illness and home happiness in retirement
- Sources
- Index
- Plate section
9 - Home life and hobbies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Preface
- 1 Early life and training
- 2 London 1946—54
- 3 Appointment to the Glasgow Chair
- 4 Glasgow obstetrics in the Fifties
- 4 Sharing Enthusiasm: A textbook – and a teacher – with a difference
- 5 The Western Infirmary Wards G9 and 10
- 6 The cutting edge – in the operating theatre
- 7 The Queen Mother's Hospital
- 8 Science and Serendipity: Ultrasound takes off
- 9 Home life and hobbies
- 10 “Naught for your comfort”: social reform and medical ethics in a changing world
- 11 “At the receiving end”: courage and faith
- 12 “The evening cometh”: international fame, continued battle with illness and home happiness in retirement
- Sources
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
In 1937, Ian married Alix Mathide Richards, daughter of a farmer in the Orange Free State. Happily married for fifty years he was the loving father of four daughters. We met Alix and the family last at the naming of the Ian Donald Fetal Medicine Unit in the Queen Mother's Hospital on 1st July, 2003.
Each of his four daughters, born at seven-year intervals, displayed characteristics of their father. Tessa is a commanding figure, a Norwegian citizen, who has given up a successful career in medicine and taken up painting, one of her father's hobbies. Christina lives in the Orkney Islands managing a croft, taking time out to play the oboe professionally and to teach wind instruments. She features annually in the St. Magnus Festival in Kirkwall. Caroline stays in Deal not far from her mother and is a cellist. Her husband makes and repairs stringed instruments. Margaret (“Noggy”) is a record-breaker. She got married at seventeen years of age (her mother was eighteen) and lives happily with her family.
The family home was a grey sandstone villa in the west end of Glasgow occupied by Ian, Alix and their four daughters. Alix was wonderful. Half South African, half French, she was the perfect foil for Ian and was able to provide a calm, if occasionally slightly disordered, background for his constantly active and restless way of life. She is one of the few women we know who could remain unperturbed by the announcement from Ian late in the afternoon that he was bringing home three guests for supper and would then conjure up a delightful meal over which she would preside with complete equanimity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Ian DonaldA Memoir, pp. 102 - 105Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004