A Middle Eastern Affair

When Ellis Douek was nine, his mother insisted that he take up embroidery, in case he became a surgeon when he grew up. Of course she was right, for he became consultant ENT surgeon at Guy’s Hospital in London. The Douek parents had the unerring quality of belonging in whichever country they lived—Egypt, the Sudan, Columbia and, finally, England. Ellis Douek’s memoirs describe the hedonism of life in Egypt, the Suez Crisis which uprooted them, 1950’s Bradford, and Paris. He began his medial training in Paris where he, his sister Claudia, and brother Zaki lived free of adult supervision. His training continued in London during a time of smog, digs, and landladies. Ellis’s days as an army medic provide hilarious accounts of whisky-sodden soldiers, circumcisions, and bureaucratic procedures.

Ellis Douek left Egypt to finish his studies in Paris and London, during which time the Suez War broke out and the family was forced to leave forever. He eventually became a famous ENT surgeon at Guy’s hospital in London, from which he has now retired.