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James Black - The cautionary tale of James Raventos (9/33)

487 views · Published 28 June 2017 · 1:28 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Science & Technology

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The late Scottish pharmacologist Sir James W Black (1924-2010) revolutionised medical treatment of hypertension and angina with his invention of propranolol, the first ever beta blocker. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998. [Listener: William Duncan; story recorded: 2006]

TRANSCRIPT: James Raventos, who... Spanish – had come during the Spanish Civil War to Edinburgh, and he worked with AJ Clark, one of the doyens of quantitative pharmacology. So, James had worked with Raventos there, and when Yule Bogue, whom you mentioned, who was the R&D Director, got his way with ICI [Imperial Chemical Industries] to build this new place at Alderley Park, James was invited to join the Pharmaceutical Division, and they went on and they developed the... this new anaesthetic, halothane, which was an improvement on ether because it was non-inflammable, etc. But I saw with... two things about James: one, he taught me some pharmacology; and, second, I saw what happened to you when you become successful, and twice a week ICI brought in busloads of anaesthetists to Alderley Park and James was wheeled out to talk to them in the morning, then down to an alcoholic lunch, and so his whole day... every Tuesday and Thursday were ruined by having to entertain these visitors. And I thought: crikey, if that's the future, you know, I'm unhappy about this.

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