PROFESSOR ROBERT OWEN

 

 

Thank you for asking me,

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I knew John in the late 60’s. I knew about his association with Harry Platt and Lloyd Griffiths and Lloyd Griffiths and John were at cross purposes they did not get on. John decided in his very positive way OK I am leaving Manchester and going to Wrightington.

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He did all his experiments, the failed experiments, the 5 years where he re-did those hips on all those patients. If you did that today you would be struck off the register. It was a great thing to do. Which he did it was at that stage that I got involved with him.

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I went to Wrightington I was working at the University of Liverpool first and then I came to North Wales where I established the unit at Abergele and it was at that stage that John and I became very close.

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John allowed me to do the Charnley Hip at Abergele with the Green House and all the stuff. Of course then I worked very closely with John.

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During the following years I had fellows coming from Oswestry for training one of which was Mike Wroblewski.

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I remember quite well he was continuously asking me, he wanted to meet the great man John Charnley and he wanted to do his Hip replacement.

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I resisted this as he was still doing his training but then Mike and I became very close friends and so eventually I took Mike to meet the great man.

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It was then that they immediately clicked. They became very close together and gradually Mike became more and more Wrightington.

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I remember the first BOA meeting at Torquay and John had asked me to give a paper about 100 cases that I had done here at Abergele.

 

Before and after the Greenhouse. So I gave the paper and I was criticised he has not followed these cases properly – which I had not really, but then John got up and said ‘You need to listen to this young lad I think he is on the right tracks’. I know for a fact he was at that time fully committed to a proper Charnley Procedure.

 

It has not changed very much because the Gold Standard was set by Charnley in the beginning. In the following years, I went to Wrightington as a friend of John’s.

 

I remember on one occasion I was in Theatre observing and there was an Egyptian Surgeon that had come from Egypt. He was a very bright lad and he wanted to do the Charnley Hip in Egypt.

 

He was pestering John so John said

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‘OK, you do the operation and I will assist.’ 

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At the end of the operation I was in the dressing room with John and this Egyptian and John said

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‘I am going to ring my Secretary and we can have a chat in my rooms at 5 o’clock.

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The Egyptian was very pleased with this and went to the rooms at 5 o’clock. John sat him down and said.

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‘I have seen your work and I want you back here at 5.30pm.’

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In the meantime John had rung his secretary.

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This young man came and John said

 

‘I have had a word with my Secretary and there is a train from here at 7 o’clock, I want you to take that train and I do not want to see you ever again!’

 

John was a perfectionist but in the background was Lady Charnley. I am sure that when he did those 50 cases which failed I am sure it was Lady Charnley who made him to re-think because he was devastated. She was a very important part of his life.

 

I only met her twice at parties.

 

Then of course I went back to Liverpool and went more to the care of Children at Alder Hey. I still did Hips and Knees at the Royal Liverpool and kept in touch with John.

 

Then John passed away and left Wrightington and all of his pupils from around the World to carry on supporting his name which will never be forgotten for what he has done for the Human Race in this Country and abroad is incalculable. There was a surgeon from Norwich who was looking at the problem from a different perspective, it did not really last. John’s did and that is my humble tribute to the Great bloke Sir John Charnley.

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