Voting is open for this year’s Southwark Heritage Association Blue Plaques scheme. There are seven worthy nominees, of which only one will get a plaque this year. But who are they and why should they get your vote? To help you decide we’ll be featuring one nominee per week over the next 7 weeks of voting.
This week, read on to discover more about Sir james Black
The story of Sir James Black (1924 – 2010) is closely tied to Kings College Hospital on Denmark Hill. The hospital itself has a fascinating history, which began in 1840 on Portugal Street, close to Lincoln’s Inn Fields and King’s College London itself. The move to the present site came about in response to the increasing population in the suburbs of Camberwell, Peckham and Brixton towards the end of the 19th century. The new hospital opened in 1909, incorporating modern features such as electric clocks, an internal phone system (the second ever to be installed in the U.K.) and electrical power produced by its own diesel generators.
Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, c.1980
In 1984 Sir James Black became Professor of Analytical Pharmacology at the Rayne Institute, part of King’s College Hospital Medical School. During that time he established his own research laboratory, the James Black Foundation and led a team of 25 scientists. In 1988 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work in drug development (along with two American scientists, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings). His major breakthroughs included work on gastrin inhibitors which can prevent a number of stomach cancers, anti-ulcer drugs and most famously, propranolol, the first generation of a range of drugs known as beta blockers, which are now commonly used to treat angina and to protect the heart from future attacks. They have benefited millions of people around the world.
Black was well known for his modesty and desire for privacy. He described his feelings on learning that he had won the Nobel Prize like this: ‘It was like being kicked in the stomach; I was in an absolute funk. I went to the pub and contemplated my fate.’ But he should have been used to the limelight by this time. As well as the Nobel Prize, he had won the Wolf Prize for Medicine in 1982 and had been knighted for services to medical research in 1981. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Societ0,y and in 2000 was appointed to the Order of Merit.
In Summary: A great example of the hard work and innovation that goes on to this day at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell. Will you #VoteSirJamesBlack?
Voting ends on 15 September 2017. You can vote by emailing Southwark Heritage Association: admin@southwark.org.uk or the Southwark News: owen@southwarknews.co.uk. You can also vote in person at all Southwark libraries and at both the Mayflower, Rotherhithe Street and Half Moon, Herne Hill.
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