• obituary

Oliver Doyle qualified in medicine in Dublin and initially planned a career as a dermatologist. During army service in the second world war he was required to care for patients with sexually transmitted infections, which he found far more interesting and rewarding. Subsequently he worked as a venereologist in Liverpool, in Manchester with Dr Sidney Laird, and in Huddersfield as an SHMO. In 1972 he was advised to move south because of intractable sinusitis and became a consultant in Southampton and the Isle of Wight. In the following year he added Bournemouth to the list of hospitals at which he did clinical sessions and remained in post until his retirement in 1983. To reduce travelling Oliver maintained homes on both the island and the mainland and commuted between clinics by ferry, hovercraft, rail, and on foot. He disliked driving, which bored him, and his Daimler car was …