Vernon Coleman
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Vernon Coleman (born 1946) is a former general practitioner,[1] and the author of over 90 books, including non-fiction works about human health, politics, cricket, and animal issues, and a range of novels. Son of an electrical engineer, he grew up an only child, in Walsall, West Midlands, England.
According to his website, his books have sold over two million copies in the UK, and have been translated into 23 languages.[1] One of his novels, Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, has been turned into a movie starring Pauline Collins.
Coleman is also a syndicated newspaper columnist, focusing on the politics of medicine. He is an outspoken critic of medical malpractice, the power of pharmaceutical companies, vaccination, conventional cancer treatment, and animal testing. He is the author of How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You (2003).
[edit] Biography
As a child he was unsure what he wanted to do, but then, according The Independant in 2008, "... I met a friend of the family when I was about 12 who said, if you're a lawyer you spend your life making people unhappy, and if you're a doctor you spend your life trying to make people happy."
Before going to medical school he worked as a volunteer, getting children to paint old people's houses and doing their shopping. The unions threatened to strike, as they were taking away work, but "... work that they weren't doing anyway ..."
A general practitioner in Leamington Spa for about ten years, mostly during the 1970s, his first books included The Medicine Men (1975), and Paper Doctors (1976). Body Power came in 1983, and has been reprinted a number of times. Alice's Diary (1989) and Alice's Adventures (1992) concern Alice (1983-1992) and her half sister Thomasina (1983-2000), real cats who shared their lives with Vernon Coleman. How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You came out in 1996, and then again in 2003. After publishers refused to publish Alices' Diary and certain others of his books, he decided to begin self publishing.
He has worked as a tabloid newspaper columnist, producing a spoof "agony uncle" column in the Sunday People which became memorable for the vehemence of his opinions - such as when he told a pro-hunt supporter that he should be "buried from the neck down in the fast lane of the M4." A collection of similarly-worded "replies" to readers' letters was published in the book I Hope Your Penis Shrivels Up in 1993.
Vernon Coleman is married to Donna Antoinette Coleman (born 1972), whom he calls "the Welsh Princess". She is coauther with him of How To Conquer Health Problems Between Ages 50 and 120 (2003), and Health Secrets Doctors Share With Their Families (2005).
On Wednesday, 14 May 2008, Vernon Coleman agreed to be interviewed by Esther Walker of The Independent, regarding one of his latest books, Oil Apocalypse.
Vernon Coleman has no children.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Biography", vernoncoleman.com.
