Main content

David Nott

Kirsty Young interviews vascular and war surgeon David Nott.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, David Nott.

He works across three London hospitals performing general, vascular, trauma & reconstructive surgery. In addition, for the past two decades, he's spent several weeks every year working in conflict zones around the world for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was brought up by his grandparents until he was four while his parents finished their training - his Welsh mother became a nurse, his Indo-Burmese father an orthopaedic surgeon. He studied medicine at St Andrews University and completed his medical and surgical training in Manchester and Liverpool before becoming a consultant general and vascular surgeon working in London.

He first volunteered to go into a war zone in 1993 when he travelled to Sarajevo. Since then he has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Haiti, Yemen, Nepa, Gaza and Syria. In 2016 he and his wife, Elly, set up the David Nott Foundation, a charity which funds the training of local doctors to work in conflict zones and hostile environments.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

36 minutes

Last on

Fri 10 Jun 2016 09:00

Music Played

  • The Treorchy Male Choir & The Jonathan Price String Ensemble

    Myfanwy

    • Diamond Collection.
    • EMI.
  • Triban

    Gadael

    • Harmony.
    • Sain.
    • N/A.
    • 4.
  • Led Zeppelin

    Stairway To Heaven

    • Led Zeppelin IV.
    • Atlantic.
    • 7567-82638-2.
    • 4.
  • Stanley Myers

    Cavatina (The Deer Hunter)

    Performer: John Williams.
    • The Deer Hunter.
    • Capitol.
  • Gimme Shelter

    • Forty Licks.
    • Decca.
  • Coldplay

    Fix you

    • X&Y.
    • EMI.
  • Claude Debussy

    Clair De Lune

    Performer: James Rhodes.
    • Bullets and Lullabies.
    • Warner Music UK Ltd..
  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Little Richard

      Good Golly Miss Molly

      • The Fabulous Little Richard.
      • Speciality Records.
  • BOOK CHOICE

    Kallimni 'Arabi Mazboot by Saimia Louis

  • LUXURY ITEM

    Fishing rod

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest David Nott
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Jun 2016 11:15
  • Fri 10 Jun 2016 09:00

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Articles

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast