Raymond Greene

Who was Raymond Greene?

Charles Raymond Greene was a Doctor of Medicine and mountaineer, brother of the novelist Graham Greene and the broadcaster Hugh Greene.

Raymond Greene, older brother of the novelist Graham Greene and BBC executive Hugh Greene, joined the 1933 Everest expedition as senior doctor, chief intellect, and a competent mountaineer of gigantic physique.

Known by his second name, Raymond Greene qualified as a doctor in 1927. In 1931 he was part of the team which climbed Kamet, and in 1933 he was the senior doctor on the fourth British expedition to Mount Everest led by Hugh Ruttledge. During World War II he worked as a doctor with Special Operations Executive and as advisor to the armed forces on the effects of high altitude and cold on the human body. He went on to become an expert in the treatment of thyroid and other endocrine diseases, migraine, and frostbite. He was credited with coining the term "pre-menstrual tension" and his research into the subject was apparently used in a criminal case by counsel defending a woman accused of murder. Between 1960 and 1980 he was chairman of Heinemann Medical Books. He was a fellow of the Royal Zoological Society and diagnosed and treated thyroid problems in Guy the gorilla at the London Zoo. He was also medical advisor to President Charles de Gaulle during his State Visit to England in 1960 and was awarded the Legion of Honour of France. His autobiography, Moments of Being, was published in 1974.