General practitioner who became a leading psychiatrist to jazz musicians, actors, and writers

Syd came to England from South Africa in 1938 and started his medical training at Liverpool University. An active member of the Communist Party, he was sent down for his involvement in industrial action by dockyard workers. However, St George's Hospital Medical School, London, offered him a place on the understanding that he would give up his political activities. To his credit—and to that of St George's—he graduated despite continuing these activities, although his supremacy on the rugby field may have held some weight.

He trained in chest medicine, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, and witnessed the horrors of Belsen concentration camp at first hand when he joined the liberating forces …