In Memory of Harold Ludman

27 May 2025 (Last updated: 27 May 2025 15:39)

Harold Ludman was a distinguished neuro-otologist working at Kings College Hospital and the Hospital for Nervous Diseases. He will be remembered in the profession as a highly intelligent, witty and kind man. He made a number of key contributions to our speciality. 

As chair of the SAC he was pivotal to the improvement to the training structure. He edited and illustrated Mawson’s Diseases of the Ear and produced the ABC of ENT as a handy guide to the speciality. He was a highly effective supporter of audiology technicians helping them to integrate with a newly emerging British society of Audiology in 1975. This in turn led to his Chairmanship of the Society of Audiological Technicians, the first member with specialised knowledge of deafness on the Hearing Aid Council. Crucially, he chaired the MRC working party on research into clinical and epidemiological aspects of deafness. He was also President of the Otology section of the RSM, the BAOL, an examiner for the FRCS and for the intercollegiate board. A monumental workload!

Harold was born in Shipley and went to Bradford Grammar School and then as a scholar to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.  His clinical years were at UCH where he chose the ENT house job over the surgical unit position partly so that he could have some time with his new wife. These were the days of living in and 1:2 rotas. He was fascinated by the operating microscope as ENT were breaking new ground in using this new instrument. He excelled in his ENT training at UCH and was appointed as a consultant to Kings College Hospital when he was just 32 years old.

As a trainee I remember Harold quietly observing my early attempt at a myringoplasty.  When I had finished, he quietly remarked that “having observed my surgery, he failed to find any advantage of my technique over the conventional technique”.  He then patiently drew his trademark beautiful diagrams of the operation.  A role model for trainers everywhere.

Editing and illustrating “Diseases of the Ear” was a huge undertaking over 6 editions. For a generation this was the authoritative text on Otology and was comprehensive yet accessible. It was mandatory reading for all Fellowship candidates. At the other end of the spectrum, ABC of ENT was a compact handbook which was concise and again beautifully illustrated simplifying the complex 3 dimensional anatomy into something that could be understood by all.  In 1980 Harold was invited to author a series of informative articles in the BMJ loosely based on the same style of wonderful clear illustrations and explanations that could be understood by all.

Outside medicine he was devoted to Lorraine his beautiful wife of 67 years and was a wonderful father to Catherine and Peter.  His meticulous approach was perfect for his mastery of photography as evidenced by multiple awards in the Hampstead Photographic society. He was a licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society and his stunning images are often to be seen at the Royal Society of Medicine.  He had a long-standing love of sports cars but not only owned a succession of interesting cars, such as a 7.2 litre Jensen Interceptor, but he actually raced them at Brands Hatch.

With his love of music, art, theatre and his background in classics he could bring depth to any discussion. A very special gentleman.