He introduces his new manuscript by describing his perspective on the history of the college.
‘I was a relative late arrival at Green College coming in 2007 just before the merger with Templeton College. However, I was very familiar with the Radcliffe Infirmary, having operated in the Tower Theatres on many occasions, often in the middle of the night in my role as a transplant surgeon.
‘Over the years I have been intrigued by the legacy of John Radcliffe as well as the philanthropic donations of Lord Nuffield and I was also privileged to know some of those who developed penicillin in the 1940s, in particular Norman Heatley and Lady Margaret Florey.
‘While I knew a lot about Green College, I knew very little about Templeton College, and it has been a journey of discovery to document its history with the help of many of the Templeton Fellows. It was interesting to note that the Oxford Centre for Management Studies began on the Woodstock Road back in 1965.’
Current Principal of Green Templeton College Sir Michael Dixon writes in his foreword, ‘While it may seem perverse in a university with eight centuries of history to be telling the story of a fourteen-year-old modern invention in the collegiate system, David shows readers why this is a heritage worth recognising.'
Professor Cranston is author of popular medical history books including John Radcliffe and his Legacy to Oxford; Penicillin and the Legacy of Norman Heatley; William Osler and his Legacy to Medicine; Lord Nuffield and his Double Legacy and Peter Morris and his Legacy to Transplantation.