Vernon Coleman
Encyclopedia
Vernon Coleman is a former general practitioner
, and the author of over 100 books, including non-fiction works about human health, politics, cricket
, and animal issues, and a range of novels. Son of an electrical engineer, he grew up an only child, in Walsall
, West Midlands
, England
, where he attended Queen Mary's Grammar School
. He is a committed vegetarian.
Vernon Coleman's books have sold over two million copies in the UK, and have been translated into 24 languages. His books have been published in the UK by Arrow, Pan, Penguin, Corgi, Thames and Hudson, Sidgwick and Jackson, Macmillan and many other publishing houses. His books have been translated into 24 languages and English versions sell in America, Australia, Canada and South Africa as well as the UK. Several have appeared on official bestseller lists both in the UK and abroad. He now self-publishes his books in the UK and sells rights to foreign publishers, large print publishers, audio publishers and film companies. One of his novels, Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, has been turned into a movie.
Coleman is an outspoken critic of medical malpractice
, the power of pharmaceutical companies
, vaccination
, conventional cancer
treatment, animal testing
and the European Union
.
in 2008, he "... met a friend of the family when I was about 12 who said, if you're a lawyer you spend your life making people unhappy, and if you're a doctor you spend your life trying to make people happy."
Before going to medical school he worked for a year as a volunteer in Kirkby, Liverpool, getting children to paint old people's houses and doing their shopping. According to Coleman, "The unions threatened to strike, as they were taking away work, but ... work that they weren't doing anyway ..."
Coleman qualified as a doctor in 1970 and has worked both in hospitals and as a GP. He is still registered and licensed to practice as a GP principal. He has founded and organised many campaigns concerning iatrogenesis, drug addictions and the abuse of animals and has given evidence to committees at the House of Commons and the House of Lords on vivisection. Dr Coleman's campaigns have often proved successful. For example, after a 15 year campaign (which started in 1973) he eventually persuaded the British Government to introduce stricter controls governing the prescribing of benzodiazepine tranquillisers. 'Dr Vernon Coleman's articles, to which I refer with approval, raised concern about these important matters,' said Edwina Currie, Parliamentary Secretary for health in the House of Commons in 1988.
He has worked as a columnist for numerous national newspapers including The Sun, The Daily Star, The Sunday Express and The Sunday People, and has written columns for over 50 regional newspapers. His columns and articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. He has contributed articles to hundreds of other publications including The Sunday Times, Observer, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Punch, Woman, Womans Own, The Lady, Spectator and the British Medical Journal. He was the founding editor of the British Clinical Journal.
He has presented numerous programmes on television and radio and was the original breakfast television doctor. He was television's first agony uncle (on The Afternoon Show). He has presented three TV series based on his bestselling book Bodypower.
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
, and the author of over 100 books, including non-fiction works about human health, politics, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, and animal issues, and a range of novels. Son of an electrical engineer, he grew up an only child, in Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he attended Queen Mary's Grammar School
Queen Mary's Grammar School
Queen Mary's Grammar School is a selective grammar school located in Sutton Road, Walsall, England, about a mile from the town centre.-Admissions:...
. He is a committed vegetarian.
Vernon Coleman's books have sold over two million copies in the UK, and have been translated into 24 languages. His books have been published in the UK by Arrow, Pan, Penguin, Corgi, Thames and Hudson, Sidgwick and Jackson, Macmillan and many other publishing houses. His books have been translated into 24 languages and English versions sell in America, Australia, Canada and South Africa as well as the UK. Several have appeared on official bestseller lists both in the UK and abroad. He now self-publishes his books in the UK and sells rights to foreign publishers, large print publishers, audio publishers and film companies. One of his novels, Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, has been turned into a movie.
Coleman is an outspoken critic of medical malpractice
Medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error. Standards and...
, the power of pharmaceutical companies
Pharmaceutical company
The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic and/or brand medications and medical devices...
, vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
, conventional cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
treatment, animal testing
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Biography
As a child he was unsure what he wanted to do, but then, according to The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
in 2008, he "... met a friend of the family when I was about 12 who said, if you're a lawyer you spend your life making people unhappy, and if you're a doctor you spend your life trying to make people happy."
Before going to medical school he worked for a year as a volunteer in Kirkby, Liverpool, getting children to paint old people's houses and doing their shopping. According to Coleman, "The unions threatened to strike, as they were taking away work, but ... work that they weren't doing anyway ..."
Coleman qualified as a doctor in 1970 and has worked both in hospitals and as a GP. He is still registered and licensed to practice as a GP principal. He has founded and organised many campaigns concerning iatrogenesis, drug addictions and the abuse of animals and has given evidence to committees at the House of Commons and the House of Lords on vivisection. Dr Coleman's campaigns have often proved successful. For example, after a 15 year campaign (which started in 1973) he eventually persuaded the British Government to introduce stricter controls governing the prescribing of benzodiazepine tranquillisers. 'Dr Vernon Coleman's articles, to which I refer with approval, raised concern about these important matters,' said Edwina Currie, Parliamentary Secretary for health in the House of Commons in 1988.
Writing and Media appearances
His first books included The Medicine Men (1975), and Paper Doctors (1976). Bodypower came in 1983, and has been reprinted a number of times. Alice's Diary (1989) and Alice's Adventures (1992) concern Alice (1983–1992) and her half sister Thomasina (1983–2000), real cats who shared their lives with Vernon Coleman. How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You came out in 1996, and then again in 2003. After publishers refused to publish Alice's Diary and certain other of his books, he decided to begin self publishing.He has worked as a columnist for numerous national newspapers including The Sun, The Daily Star, The Sunday Express and The Sunday People, and has written columns for over 50 regional newspapers. His columns and articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. He has contributed articles to hundreds of other publications including The Sunday Times, Observer, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Punch, Woman, Womans Own, The Lady, Spectator and the British Medical Journal. He was the founding editor of the British Clinical Journal.
He has presented numerous programmes on television and radio and was the original breakfast television doctor. He was television's first agony uncle (on The Afternoon Show). He has presented three TV series based on his bestselling book Bodypower.
Personal life
Vernon Coleman is married to Donna Antoinette Coleman (born 1972), whom he calls "the Welsh Princess". She is co-author with him of How To Conquer Health Problems Between Ages 50 and 120 (2003), and Health Secrets Doctors Share With Their Families (2005).Major publications
- The Medicine Men (1975)
- Paper Doctors (1976)
- Stress Control (1978)
- Tunnel (1980)
- The Good Medicine Guide (1982)
- Bodypower (1983)
- Thomas Winsden's Cricketing Almanac (1983)
- Bodysense (1984)
- Life Without Tranquillisers (1985)
- Mindpower (1986)
- Know Yourself (1988)
- Alice's Diary (1989)
- Village Cricket Tour (1990)
- Eat Green Lose Weight (1990)
- Why Animal Experiments Must Stop (1991)
- Alice's Adventures(1992)
- Bilbury Chronicles (1992)
- Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War (1993)
- Betrayal of Trust (1994)
- Food for Thought (1994, 2000)
- The Man Who Inherited a Golf Course (1995)
- How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You (1996, new edn 2003)
- Paris in My Springtime (2002)
- How To Conquer Health Problems Between Ages 50 and 120 (2003, with Donna Antoinette Coleman)
- Health Secrets Doctors Share With Their Families (2005, with Donna Antoinette Coleman)
- Too Many Clubs and Not Enough Balls (2005)
- Animal Experiments Simple Truths (2006)
- How to Protect and Preserve Your Freedom, Identity and Privacy (2006)
- Gordon is a Moron: the Definitive and Objective Analysis of Gordon Brown's Decade as Chancellor of the Exchequer (2007)
- Coleman's Laws (2007)
- Oil Apocalypse (2007)
- Mr Henry Mulligan (2007)
- The OFPIS File (2008)
- Cat Tales (2008)
- What Happens Next? (2009)
- Moneypower (2009)
- Bloodless Revolution (2009)
- 101 Things I Have Learned (2010)
- 100 Greatest Englishmen and Englishwomen (2010)
- 2020 (2010)
- Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Is Lying. Here's The Proof. (2011)
- Diary of a Disgruntled Man (2011)