The following tribute to Prof. W.A. (Bill) Frankland (FN 26-30) appeared recently in BMA News:

‘This year marks the 100th anniversary of the only ‘cure’ for allergies: allergen immunotherapy. In the run-up to the anniversary, a film has been produced about the life of Bill Frankland, the first person to demonstrate the benefits of grass pollen immunotherapy, who is fondly known as the ‘grandfather of UK allergy’. Dr Frankland set up the Allergy Clinic, now called the Frankland Allergy Clinic, at St Mary’s Hospital, London. The film complements a painting of Dr Frankland that hangs in the clinic. This was painted by the daughter of a man whose life the allergist saved while in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Dr Frankland’s wartime experience is one of many fascinating facets of his life. At 99 he is the oldest practising doctor, and he regularly attends international allergy conferences. Several decades ago he was the founding member and president of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 1948. The film charts his working career as a registrar under Alexander Fleming, the bacteriologist who discovered penicillin, and Dr Frankland’s role in undertaking the first double blind trials of grass pollen immunotherapy with his boss, Dr Freeman.’