ABSTRACT
Sir Denis Pereira Gray edited the Journal, from 1972, unpaid, from his home supported by one secretary. He started this role when 35 years old, without a higher university degree, so he had to learn his craft on the job reading statistics books at home and checking proofs on Cornish beaches. Sir Denis, when retiring as editor in 1980, handed over the Journal as the world number one journal of general practice. The University of Exeter was established in 1955 and local doctors initiated the first Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) outside London in 1963, within it. In the mid-1960s, Sir Denis wrote a paper proposing a postgraduate university department of general practice within the PGMI. Strong links were built with the general practices in which the four lecturers worked clinically, especially the St. Leonard’s Practice where Sir Denis had developed new data-recording systems and internal audits run from a ‘quality assurance room’.
