ABSTRACT
William Stanley Sykes started his working career with a move to London to work at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, first as house surgeon and extern midwifery assistant, and then house anaesthetist. This job in anaesthetics sparked a lifelong interest in the subject, which ultimately became his passion. At the commencement of the Second World War, Sykes immediately volunteered for service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Sykes gave up administering anaesthesia immediately after the war, following a heated dispute with the hospital authorities. He had threatened to quit unless hospital conditions were improved, particularly relating to hygiene standards. Sykes’ greatest passion was anaesthetics and it is in this field that his publications soared. Sykes enjoyed writing fiction as a hobby. He published a series of detective novels, using his medical background for inspiration in the narrative. One reviewer complained of Sykes and his apparently snobbish attitude towards what he considers to be menial professions.
