War medic so grateful for Queen's humanity

DAVID Nott treated war victims in Aleppo in Syria

FORMER Oldham Hulme Grammar School pupil David Nott has revealed how comforting the Queen's corgis helped him talk about his experiences working in war zones.

The consultant surgeon was a guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" and spoke about his visit to Buckingham Palace in 2014 ten days after returning from Aleppo in Syria, where he had treated war victims.

When the Queen asked about him his experiences, he was left unable to respond due to the devastating scenes he had encountered.

Sensing this, the Queen called for her courtiers who brought over a load of dog biscuits.

He told listeners: "For 20 minutes during this lunch the Queen and I fed the dogs. She did it because she knew I was so seriously traumatised. The humanity of what she was doing was unbelievable."

As well as talking about his favourite music tracks including "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zepplin and "Fix You" by Coldplay, he also revealed how while operating on a man in Syria, six armed militants from so-called Islamic State burst into the room.

During their 20 minutes stay, he was too scared to speak for fear the fully armed militants would recognise he was British.

He said: "I remember so vividly my legs shaking like jelly, and they stayed in for about 20 minutes with their guns all pointing towards us, then all of a sudden something happened outside . . . and they left."

Born in Carmarthen, South Wales, he moved to Rochdale with his family at the age of 10 when his father became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon.

Mr Nott said failing his A-Levels at Oldham Hulme Grammar had a profound impact on him and made him determined to succeed and to help others less fortunate than himself. For more than two decades, the consultant surgeon, who works at Royal Marsden, St Mary's and Chelsea and Westminster hospitals in London, has given up several months every year to volunteer in war zones and amid humanitarian crises.

He has performed life-saving surgery in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Syria.

In 2008 Mr Nott saved the life of a 16-year-old boy whose arm has been injured in a suspected hippo attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Nott was awarded the OBE in June 2012 and earlier this year was named winner of the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2016.

He has set up the David Nott Foundation, which offers other surgeons and other medical professionals training on how to help in conflict and natural disaster zones around the world.