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Desert Island Books

Professor Charles Knight OBE

Professor Charles Knight OBE is a consultant cardiologist and chief executive of St Bartholomew's Hospital. 

Professor Knight is a specialist in alcohol septal ablation and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. From 2010 he led the development of the Barts Heart Centre by merging cardiac services from across London to create the largest cardiac centre in the UK. He became the Centre’s first executive director in 2014. In 2015 he was appointed as managing director and then chief executive of St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

In March 2020, Professor Knight was seconded as chief executive officer of NHS Nightingale Hospital London, established to care for patients during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. In July he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in acknowledgment of his role in the NHS’s response to the outbreak. In October 2020 he was awarded an OBE for services to the NHS and people with heart disease.

Professor Knight is the executive sponsor of the LGBTQ+ network. The network exists to support the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, to provide a space for social events and networking, and to support Barts Trust in promoting genuine inclusion, diversity and equality throughout our workplace.

Contact details for the network:

bhnt.lgbtq@nhs.net

LGBTQ+ twitter

LGBTQ+ WeShare Page

 

Memoirs of Hadrian - Marguerite Yourcenar

In her novel, Marguerite Yourcenor recreates the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world. The Emperor Hadrian, aware his demise is imminent, writes a long valedictory letter to Marcus Aurelius, his future successor. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing his accession, military triumphs, love of poetry and music, and the philosophy that informed his powerful and far-flung rule. A work of superbly detailed research and sustained empathy, Memoirs of Hadrian captures the living spirit of the Emperor and of Ancient Rome.

Charles says: "An extraordinary feat of historical imagination brings to life one of the greatest of Roman Emperors - a gay role model for the ages."

Mapp and Lucia - E.F. Benson

Subtly brilliant comedy of social rivalry between the wars. Emmeline Lucas (known universally to her friends as Lucia) is an arch-snob of the highest order. In Miss Elizabeth Mapp of Mallards Lucia meets her match. Ostensibly the most civil and genteel of society ladies, there is no plan too devious, no plot too cunning, no depths to which they would not sink, in order to win the battle for social supremacy.

Charles says: "Simply the funniest, bitchiest and campest series of novels in the English language​​​."

Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin

One of the most influential books of the past fifty years, Team of Rivals is Pulitzer Prize-winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's modern classic about the political genius of Abraham Lincoln, his unlikely presidency, and his cabinet of former political foes.

Charles says: "The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet - a masterclass in leadership. Lincoln is my greatest hero."

A Time of Gifts - Patick Leigh Fermor

In 1933, aged eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on his 'great trudge', a year-long journey by foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Three decades later he wrote A Time of Gifts, the sparklingly original account of the first part of this youthful adventure, which took him through the Low Countries, up the Rhine, through Germany, down the Danube, through Austria and Czechoslovakia, and as far as Hungary.

Alone, carrying only a rucksack and with a small allowance of only a pound a week, Fermor had planned to sleep rough - to live 'like a tramp, a pilgrim, or a wandering scholar' - but a chance introduction in Bavaria led to comfortable stays in castles, and provided a glimpse of the old Europe of princes and peasants.

Charles says: "The famous account of the start of a walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in the 1930's. Unforgettable, rich baroque prose."

The House at Pooh Corner - A.A. Milne

 

This is the second classic children’s story by A.A. Milne about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. In this volume Pooh meets the irrepressible Tigger for the first time, learns to play Poohsticks and sets a trap for a Heffalump.

Charles says: "Re-read it! The characterisation is wonderful - we all know a Tigger, an Eeyore and an Owl."

Still to read...

The Years of Lyndon B Johnson - Robert Caro

Robert A. Caro’s legendary, multi-award-winning biography of US President Lyndon Johnson is a uniquely riveting and revelatory account of power, political genius and the shaping of twentieth-century America.

Charles says: "A five volume biography which I have not yet finished (and neither has the 86 year old author!). Consistently voted the best political biography ever - the story of how a supremely self serving and unpleasant man did great and wonderful things."

Record:

"Beethoven - Emperor Concerto".

Luxury Item:

"Full set of white cotton bedding and feather duvet."