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It was with great sadness in January that the College received the news of the passing of Professor Sir Roy Calne, (Second’s 1944 – 1947). Professor Calne was undoubtedly Lancing’s most eminent surgeon, a pioneer of liver transplants, he spent his life changing organ transplants from impossible procedures into standard medical practice.
One of Sir Roy’s contemporaries at Lancing was Dr Geoffrey Cunningham, (Gibbs’ 1945-1948) who remembers being in Biology classes with him and recognised, even then that Roy was detined to be ‘among the Gods’. His love of nature and life sciences developed at Lancing under the guidance of Ken Saw (Common Room 1934-1956) and his love of art, (which he had always enjoyed as a child) was nurtured under the tutelage of Francis Russell Flint, (Common Room 1946-1948), son of Sir William Russell Flint, RA. And so began a life-long meeting of medicine and art.
Roy and Geoffrey left Lancing early at the age of 16 to pursue their medical careers. Roy joined Guy’s Medical School where the average age of students was 26 but this did not deter him in anyway. From the age of 12 Roy had said he was “fascinated by the human engine”, and knew he wanted to be a surgeon. He served his National Service as a doctor with the Gurkha regiment in Malaya and Hong Kong. Gurkhas, he found, were ideal patients, reporting sick only when half dead. In 1988 Roy operated on the distinguished Scottish painter John Bellany, who following his liver transplant made 60 portraits of himself in hospital. He gave Roy lessons and they painted each other. Painting grew into an immensely therapeutic hobby for him, he painted many of his transplant patients, finding it brought a different, more humane quality to the relationship, particularly children. Lady Calne has kindly let us publish a moving quote from a letter received from Helen Bellany after Roy’s death. ‘So many lives saved, the lives of so many others worth living, brought about by the years of rigorous academic study and the practical application of hard-won scientific achievement, the profound unending gratitude of so many like myself and my family whose paths through life were, against all odds, lifted out of tragedy by the unfailing passion of the man Roy was and the strong belief he had in what he was aiming for never faltered. The gold dust of his genius and his humanity will be scattered over the furthest corner of the world. Where along with all of us his praises will be sung for ever more.’
Roy was a guest on Desert Island Discs on 25th February 1996 with Sue Lawley. Lancing came up in the conversation twice, once when he was talking about how he had learnt how to paint with Francis Russell Flint and the second moment was with his fourth choice of music, Verdi’s Dies Irae (Requiem Mass). Roy remembered singing this with the choir ‘in Lancing’s beautiful Chapel’ (where he kept a flock of 40 pigeons in the attic), accompanied by the Royal Marine Trumpeters playing in the triforium.
Lancing was privileged to have him as President of its Medical Society - he was the guest speaker at its inaugural dinner in 2008 where his subject was ‘Art and Surgery’. He remained a loyal OL and for many years continued to attend Lancing Medical events and OL reunions in Cambridge. On behalf of all of us here we send our deepest condolences to his wife Patsy and the rest of the family.