Dr. Thomas Low-Beer

Thomas Stephen Low-Beer

b.25 February 1932 d.21 November 2001 BM BCh Oxon(1960) MA(1960) MRCP(1965) FRCP(1980)

Tom Low-Beer, a former ‘illegal immigrant’, was a man of great energy, enthusiasm and charm. This combination of gifts often enabled him to overcome obstacles that defeated lesser persons, whilst sometimes causing turbulence in the surrounding waters. He was born in Brno, in the former Czechoslovakia, to a prosperous Jewish family. His early life was comfortable, but that all changed with the Nazi threat. He left Czechoslovakia in 1938 and spent some time in Switzerland and a year in France, resulting in a love of that country and a perfect French accent. He came to Britain in 1940 ahead of his parents on his elder sister’s passport, posing as her son. After the family was re-established here he had a formal British education at Gordonstoun; Kurt Hahn, its founder, was a friend of his mother. After school, he did National Service in the RAMC from 1951 to 1953.

He proceeded to medical studies, doing pre-clinicals at New College, Oxford, and then to the Middlesex Hospital for his clinical years, qualifying in 1960. After house jobs at the Middlesex and Addenbrooke’s, he became a medical registrar with Frank McGown at Romford and went on to Bristol, passing the MRCP in 1965. Subsequently, he became a lecturer in Alan Read’s [Munk%E2%80%99s Roll, Vol. IX, p.440] department of medicine at Bristol University and the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Besides clinical work in general medicine and gastroenterology and teaching, he became heavily involved in research, notably in the newly advancing fields of gall bladder disease and bile salt metabolism. To pursue this path further he spent a most productive period from 1966 to 1969 at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, contributing to many published papers.

On returning to Bristol, he continued his research and clinical work. He formed strong links with overseas visitors to the department of medicine and, with his generous manner, helped introduce these and some political refugees to life and culture in Britain. He formed a particularly strong and enduring bond with Eru Pomare, who was to become the first Maori professor of medicine in Wellington, New Zealand. They published numerous research papers together and, at Ru’s invitation, Tom spent an enjoyable six months as an exchange consultant in Wellington from 1985 to 1986.

In 1975, he moved to Birmingham on his appointment as consultant physician and gastroenterologist to Selly Oak Hospital. This was very different from the research-orientated academic role in Bristol as Selly Oak was a typical district general hospital with a heavy clinical workload and no established research base. It was in this year that the first firms of undergraduate students from Birmingham Medical School ventured out from the traditional teaching hospitals to Selly Oak. This was an immediate success, in no small measure due to Tom, with the students favouring the less formal approach to teaching, the enthusiasm of the clinicians and the wealth of clinical cases. Tom’s passion for teaching, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, was proverbial. He was appointed to the position of honorary senior clinical lecturer in medicine to the University of Birmingham.

At Selly Oak, Tom established an excellent clinical service with the highest standards, winning the affection of his patients. Nothing was too much effort for him on his patients’ behalf. He was thorough and energetic, leaving few stones unturned. In his concern to obtain the best for his patients, it has to be said that he sometimes strained the available resources. In his practice there was little time for ‘routine’, all cases were ‘urgent’! Although initially there were few opportunities for research, Tom forged links with the university and encouraged his juniors to become involved in writing papers, making the most of the meagre resources available. Many of these doctors have continued with research and academic work initially stimulated by Tom.

One of his achievements was to re-structure the chaotic notes system of Selly Oak Hospital. Another, on a grander scale, was the conception and establishment of a department of rheumatology with the foundation of a chair. In collaboration with the GU medicine department, he established the in-patient facility for patients with HIV. In 1980, he was awarded the FRCP. His interest in people, particularly those from abroad, suited him well for his appointment to the university position of tutor for overseas students, a role that he fulfilled with distinction. Although he had a modest private medical practice, his concern was for the NHS and to this end he was a member and later honorary treasurer of the National Health Service Consultants Association, a non-party political organisation established when there was thought to be a serious risk of the NHS being dismembered.

He retired from Selly Oak Hospital in February 1997, but continued to be active in research, some private practice and in his role with overseas students. He was still supervising research fellows at the time of his death in November 2001.

Outside of medicine, his activities and interests were wide and varied. He travelled extensively and had a natural talent for languages, speaking French and German fluently. He was a competent musician, playing the flute, and enjoying concerts and the opera. He was always an avid reader and an art lover, stunning his fellow undergraduates at Oxford with his breadth of knowledge in this field. After retirement, he was able to pursue his love of art more extensively and trained as a guide to the collections of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, the University of Birmingham’s splendid gallery. He was actively involved with the Friends of the Barber and organised an excellent tour to Prague on their behalf. Another venture in retirement was the planting of a wood containing 2,000 trees near Bromyard in Herefordshire. To further this activity he went on a course to become a chainsaw operator – he was by far the oldest participant.

He was not a keen sportsman, but played rugby for his college and enjoyed skiing. He was an enthusiastic and vigorous walker, both in towns and in the countryside. Indeed, he had been on a nine-hour trek over the Drakensberg mountains and into Lesotho only days before his tragic death in a car accident whilst on holiday in South Africa.

Tom was immensely sociable, enjoying good food and wine. He was a generous host and a raconteur of distinction. It was always a pleasure to be invited the elegant home that he and his wife Ann (née Smith) established in Weoley Park Road, Birmingham. Tom and Ann married in 1965 and had two sons, Daniel, a global health worker, and Jacob, who has followed his father into medicine.

Roy Cockel

[Brit.med.J, 2002,324,175]

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Ann Low-Beer (née Smith) died suddenly in Leamington Spa on 12 October 2010. Her commitment, integrity and clarity enabled her to make a significant contribution to history teaching both in England and in continental Europe. Born in Hull, she gained a First Class degree in history from Hull University and a PGCE from the Institute of Education in London. After teaching at Mayfield Comprehensive School in Putney, she completed a BLitt at St Hugh's College, Oxford. Her thesis, ‘Some Problems in the Theory and Practice of History Teaching in English Secondary Schools', laid foundations for much of her subsequent published work. Ann's interest in the pedagogy of history teaching led her to become a lecturer in education, first at the Institute of Education in London and then at Bristol University.

In 1965 Ann married Tom Low-Beer, a medical consultant born in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Tom had arrived in Britain in 1940 as an eight-year old illegal immigrant fleeing the Nazis. Tom's background was one of the reasons for Ann's continuing interest in Jewish as well as Central and Eastern European history. In 19687/8 when her husband accepted a job in the USA, Ann went with him and taught a history course entitled ‘from Plato to NATO' in multi-racial schools. Back in England, her husband moved to a post in Birmingham so Ann commuted from Birmingham to Bristol combining a lively professional and family life. Then in the years before her retirement, she became a lecturer first at Westminster College, Oxford; and then head of department at Westhill College in Birmingham.

As a teacher, history teacher educator and writer, Ann was committed to history both as a body of knowledge and an intellectual discipline. Pupils, she believed, were entitled to gain a broad, balanced knowledge of history designed to help them understand the past and how it has shaped the present. But Ann also considered that history was valuable in its own right and that history teaching should be fun. Pupils should be encouraged to read widely, including novels and biographies. She wrote, ‘history is always learnt from a variety of sources. To impart an understanding of what history is about, it is important, at the beginning, to teach the student not to rely on any one book, and it is almost always better that he should read two.' Ann's insightfulness and creative intelligence aided her in charting her own unique course through the different history teaching ideologies of the time. She was able to analyse underlying assumptions and identify sloppy thinking. This enabled her to challenge existing orthodoxies. In 1967 she published an article 'Moral Judgements in History and History Teaching'. In her introduction she states,

'The purpose of this article is to discuss the view that moral judgements should not enter into historical narrative or study; to suggest ways in which moral judgements do appear in history; and finally to suggest that there are strong reasons for supposing that these are likely to be more important and frequent in school history'... .[i]

One of the great debates of the 1980s was whether pupils should be assessed on their ability to empathise with people in the past. Ann's article ‘Empathy and History', identified some of the fallacies in this approach. A beautifully written piece in which the arguments are clearly articulated, it still merits study.[ii]

Ann was particularly interested in history teaching in primary schools. In 1983 she and Joan Blyth published an HA pamphlet on the issue.[iii] She introduced a pioneering history curriculum for primary students at Grove Lane School in Handsworth. Its quality was noticed by the secretary of state and Parliament discussed why the "Low-Beer" curriculum was not taught nationally. Grove Lane School has kept to her curriculum for twenty years.

Her interest in primary history was one reason Ann was asked to serve on the Government's History Working Group set up to devise a National Curriculum for history. Many history teachers feared that the Group would produce a curriculum which would force them to teach a simplistic account of English history. Instead, the Group created a balanced schema for history that included British, European and world history and encompassed both knowledge and skills. Tim Lomas, a member of the Group, commented that Ann,

‘... was always committed to safeguarding history as a pleasurable and valuable part of the curriculum. She felt equally passionately whether talking about history at primary, secondary or higher education levels. She always stood out for balanced and worthwhile content across the years of compulsory education. ... she was extremely kind and concerned, often noticing if another member of History Working Group was concerned or upset and showing a deep care for our well-being.'

Ann's interest in political influences on history and its role in national identity brought her to the attention of the Council of Europe at a time when writing curricula and textbooks for societies in transition was an important issue. After the fall of the Wall many Central and East European states were trying to rewrite curricula and textbooks. Ann was asked to give presentations at meetings held in different parts of Eastern Europe. She was particularly interested in South East Europe and contributed to meetings set up under the Stability Pact to help with the reform of textbooks after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Her tact made her a good diplomat in tricky situations and she was always a delightful travelling companion in taxing circumstances. The Council also valued her for her beautifully written, vivid yet concise reports of the meetings. Her literary talent led her to become editor of the Bulletin for EUROCLIO - the Association of European History Teachers.

In retirement, Ann remained interested in history education as well as in the history of her husband's family. She was also an active Friend of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, in Birmingham and involved in music societies in Leamington Spa. After her husband's sudden death in a car crash in South Africa in 2001, Ann established the Low-Beer Trust to support the concerts and careers of young Czech musicians.

Many of the debates in which Ann participated are still current. The Coalition Government is planning to set up another working party into the history curriculum. It is to be hoped that members will bring to the current debate the same commitment, integrity and clarity that Ann did during her distinguished career.

Sue Bennett