THE DOC REPLIES

A collection of 1950s medical articles and Q&A sessions from The Sunday Post in which readers revealed their health worries. It contains good, bad and questionable advice with comments from a modern doctor on some of the more of-their time suggestions. The Doc was the single most popular feature in The Sunday Post when the paper was recording world-record circulation figures. So influential was it that pharmacists and GPs would phone, asking what The Doc was to talk about. They knew that, on Monday, they'd have a lengthy queue of patients saying: See this in the paper? I've got that! . It is a collection of those 1950s medical articles, and Q&A sessions in which ordinary folk revealed their health worries. There is good advice, there are useful tips, there is stuff you definitely should NOT do, and there is a good dose of humour. But then, there was wisdom too. The best way to be comfortable in bed is to have a cool head and nose, and warm feet; the way you walk has an effect on how long you'll live; and there were certain precautions to take when sugar came off the ration. There are 304 pages of good, bad, questionable and outlandish advice, with comments from a modern doctor on some of the more of-their-time suggestions like smoke 15 a day if you have a cold, and the best way to avoid being bitten by fleas when you went to the cinema. And, take heed, there are household jobs your husband shouldn't let you do if you're a woman! It is a book that is entertaining, useful, amusing, full of nostalgia and full of people like us, the way we used to be.

• Length: 304 pages
• Language: English
• Publisher: DC Thomson
• Publication date: 18 Feb. 2019