The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 39

DERfiAMAL Obituary: Scott O'Dell Law Report Dismissal with no NHS review Prized writer for children Lively Labour Lady THE GUARDIAN Thursday October 19 1989 5 1 WQEBRBTjJj UP rejected Dr Guirguls's application for judicial review of the Secretary of State's reply. Dr Guirguis appealed. COTT O'Dell, the distinguished American kwriter of children's books and a descendant Court of Appeal Regina Secretary of State for Health, ex parte Guirgnis Before Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Glidewell and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith October 12 1989 A HOSPITAL consultant who is summarily dismissed by the health authority is not entitled to make representations to the Secretary of State for Health under paragraph 190 of the National Health Service Terms and Conditions of Service of Hospital Medical and Dental Staff (England and Wales). The Health Secretary's jurisdiction under paragraph 190 extends only to consultants whose employment is terminated on notice. Paragraph 190 provides that "where a consultant considers that his appointment is being unfairly terminated, he shall be entitled to send a full statement of the facts to the Secretary of State, who will obtain the written views of the authority concerned and place the case before a professional committee In the light of their advice, the Secretary of State may confirm the termination of services, or direct that the practitioner's employment should continue This procedure shall be completed before the authority's decision to terminate the appointment is carried into effect and where the Secretary of State's decision cannot be given before the expiry of the notice given, such notice shall be extended until the decision is given." last.

My Name is Not Angelica, will be published in a fortnight O'Dell wrote in the same direct simple prose that vividly evoked his adventurers and the dangerous country they explored with a story-telling power that sometimes recalled his literary ancestor. Sir Walter Scott O'Dell had an adventurous! life himself before settling down to become a writer. After graduating from Stanford University, he worked as a cameraman and technical director for Paramount Studios in Hollywood on films that included the original Ben Hur, The Sheik with Rudolph Valentino, and several Gloria Swanson dramas. Next came a rolling-stone period as a farmer and then as a journalist, including book editor for the Los Angeles Daily News. His first novel, Woman of Spain, was published in 1934, but it was another 10 years before he found his ideal children's audience with whom he was to have a successful relationship for over 40 years.

His prize winning Dolphins alone has sold more than 400,000 copies in 32 hard cover editions, many more in paperback, and there was also a film. An exuberant, warm-hearted man, O'Dell might have written about himself what he wrote of the Navahos in his 1970 novel Sing Down the Moon, "They thirsted for Even prostate cancer at the age of 91 could not stop him working right up to the end on yet another novel with an American Indian theme. "Never give that's one of my main he said once. That was the way he lived, too. Sir Roger Mynors flflARIE Jenkins (Lady Lll Jenkins of Putney) died VI in London on Friday at the age of 82.

Her husband, Hugh, was a notable Arts Minister in the Wilson Labour Government of 1974, and has since been very active in the House of Lords; but Marie was a political figure in her own right, as well as being her husband's chief assistant during his 15 years in the House of Commons. In his Putney constituency she played a prominent part; nor was this alL She also served on the Bat-tersea and Wandsworth Borough Councils and later on the London County Council and its successor, the Greater London Council, where she was Deputy Chief Whip and chaired the Housing Management Committee. Lady Jenkins was a well-known figure locally. She chaired the governing body of the Elliott School and others. With her husband she took part in the Aldermaston CND marches and she was active in local Labour Party and Co-operative politics as a member and chair of committees at ward and constituency levels.

During the second world war she drove cars and heavier vehicles for Civil Defence, and later for the Ministry of Labour, where she also worked adrninistratively. She worked, too, as an Assistant Almoner and, after the war, full-time for the Fabian Society and, later, for the Marriage Guidance Council. She was a feminist and a founding supporter of' the Women's Playhouse Trust This career suggests a personality that might be dour and determined, and without any appreciation of the comic. Far from it Although she was dedicated to the causes she supported, she never judged people solely by their political views. She was fun to be with, cheerful and optimistic, with a strong sense of humour.

In the last year of her life, moving to and fro between hospital and nursing home for periods of treatment and observation, her courage was remarkable. Distinguished Latinist Mynors's signal contribution to Latin scholarship lay in his work on the texts of Cassiodo-rus, Catullus, Pliny and the Latin Panegyrists, all of which were notable for his economy and elegance in the presentation of complex data, and above all for an unsurpassed coolness of judgment But those whom he taught will remember him coming in from the fields to lecture on the Georgics, explaining that the poppy is a keen coloniser but a poor competitor, and would wait eagerly to read his commentary on the best poem of the best poet He taught us to look at what was there. of Sir Walter Scott, was often said to have won more awards than anv other writer of chil dren's books. It was easy to believe because many of his 26 novels received American or European prizes. Island of the Blue Dolphins, published in 1960, was awarded the Newbery prize, which is given by the American Library Association for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

His many other awards included the Hans Christian Andersen Author Medal in recognition of his work as a whole, the highest international recognition an author of children's books can receive. Yet 6'Dell's first five novels were written for adults and it was only then that he gave up on that readership and devoted himself to writing for children. "The only reason I write is to say he once explained. "I've forsaken adults because they're not going to change, though they may try awfully hard. But children can and do change." His prize winning Island of the Dolphins was inspired by his anger at the growing number of hunters killing wild life near his home outside San Diego.

He made young women and American Indians leading characters long before they were fashionable in children's literature, and he often set a story in the early nineteenth century during the most adventurous frontier days when the West was still being explored. A young American Indian woman was the heroine of Island of the Dolphins, and nearly 30 years later he published Streams to the River, River to the Sea, which describes how a young Shoshone girl, who was to become the famous Sacagawea, served as interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark on their expedition into the unknown West. The opening of that novel is typical: "We were gathering blackcaps on the stream above the place where the three big rivers The narrator is the young American Indian heroine. In all his 26 books the Birthdays Robert Beatty, 80, Bernard Hepton, 64, Michael Gambon, 49, Simon Ward, 48, actors; Mr Justice Boreham, 70; Sir Robert Boyd, FRS, astrophysicist, 67; Dr David Clark, 50, John Evans, 59, MPs; David Corn-well, (John French le Carre), novelist, 58; Simon Dyer, director-general, Automobile Association, 50; Richard Freeborn, novelist, emeritus professor of Russian literature. University of London, 63; Sir Robert Jennings, a judge of the International Court of Justice, 76; Graham Lock, chief executive, fellow in classics 1927-44.

In 1963 he published a catalogue of the manuscripts in the Balliol library too. He spent much of the war as a principal officer at the Treasury. (His twin brother, Sir Humphrey Charles Baskerville Mynors, was deputy Governor of the Bank of England 195444 and Chairman of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers 1968-69.) David West writes: Readers of Cyril Connolly's Enemies of Promise may remember that the brutality of society in Eton College was once mitigated by the benign and civilised influence of some notable juniors, one of whom was Roger Mynors. This quality remained with him throughout his life. Jo Gri-mond remembered his welcoming open door at his rooms at Balliol: "Friendly, amused but firm, he was the archetype of the best dons." I Letter The decision Lord Justice Lloyd said that the appeal was supported by the British Medical Association and the question was whether paragraph 190 applied to prac-tioners who had been summarily dismissed.

It was conceded that on its literal wording the paragraph was against Dr Guirguis. But Mr Reynolds for Dr Guir- on lie c'kifl that tofWI cVirtnlrl Ka guM ouiu utui a iwi aituuiu isv implied in paragraph 190 so that it covered summary dismissal. He sought to justify that implied term on the grounds that paragraph 190 confers a valuable contractual benefit in that a practitioner might be able to obtain reinstatement It was argued that it would be anomalous to confer that valuable benefit on those whose employment was terminated on notice but not on those who were dismissed without notice. It was also said that an unscrupulous employer could circumvent paragraph 190 by opting for summary dismissal with no good reason. Despite the force of those arguments, his Lordship was not persuaded that a term should be implied into paragraph 190.

There was no good reason to continue the contractual relationship when trust had broken down. A contractual term may only be implied where it was consistent with the express terms of the contract. In the present case an implied term was inconsistent with paragraph 190. Paragraphs 195 and 196 dealt with the minimum periods of notice. But paragraph 197(d) stated that that did not prevent "either party treating the contract as terminable without notice, by reason of such conduct by the other party as enables him so to treat it at That was irreconcilable with the implied term contended for.

The possibility of an authority abusing its powers on a trumped up charge was remote. There was no reason which justified the reading of paragraph 190 so that it applied to those who had been summarily dismissed. That construction of para- grapn lyu uia nut rcsuii in injustice. Dr Guirguis was not" i. tr.

L- applied to an industrial tribunal and he had a remedy in damages at common law. Mr Justice Popplewell had reached the right conclusion. Lord Justice Glidewell and Lord Justice Stuart-Smith agreed. The appeal was dismissed. Appearances: Frederic Reynolds QC and Richard Clayton instructed by the BMA for Dr Guirguis; Jayne Adams instructed by Oxley Coward, Sheffield, for the health authority; David Pannick instructed by the Treasury Solicitor for the Secretary of State.

Shlranlkha Herbert barrister SURE OF SHELL 7 Is- SIR Roger Mynors, the famous Latinist and Hereford Cathedral trustee, was killed at the age of 86 on his way from work, driving his Metro. No one who knew him would be surprised to learn that he was still in (unpaid) employment, for since retiring to his Herefordshire home from his successive chairs of Latin at Cambridge and Oxford, he started in the 1950s and continued cataloguing the 227 mediaeval Latin manuscript volumes by the Early Fathers and others, kept in the Chained Library of the Cathedral. Much earlier, before 1939, he did similar work on the manuscripts of Durham Cathedralwhere he married the daughter of A Alington, the Eton headmaster and Dean of Durham. Educated at Eton and Balliol, Sir Roger later became Balliol College Librarian and tutorial Lord Inchyra, who has died at 89, was a former Ambassador to Bonn and Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office under Selwyn Lloyd and Lord Home, during Harold MacMillan's government. A Scot, Frederick Robert Hoyer Millar was educated at Wellington and New College, and began his Foreign Office career in Paris in the 1920s.

In the years between the Nazi takeover of power and Munich he was assistant private secretary to four Foreign Secretaries in as many years. During the war he was at the embassy in Washington, and after a spell as British representative on the Nato council he became first High Commissioner in West Germany and then Ambassador in 1955. In Krazy Kat Doonesbury THE BOOMERS ABOUT MB! MANYFE- POT AS NOT ONLY HARM- lS5.BUT ACWAWt. postmen BEEHlM -mis GAME Deaths MM I.I Gavin Ewart Together with countless other lovers of Italian cinema (writes George Brandt) I was saddened to learn of the death of Cesare Zavatttni. I was also saddened by the misleading caption you put under the still taken from Bicycle Thieves.

Enzo Staiola (in the role of Bruno SUcci) did not 'borrow' (i.e. steal) the bicycle he is shown cleaning; on the contrary, for the greater part of the film he helps his father Antonio to trace the bicycle which is stolen in an early sequence. Far from being the bicycle thief of the title, Bruno is the moral centre piece of the film. It must have been some time since the caption writer last saw this masterpiece of Italian cinema. George Hemman BY GARRY TRUDEAU that'smr" CAFFEINE Today's Quick Crossword No.

8,084 1957 he returned to Whitehall as Permanent Under-Secretary. He was created Baron Inchyra in 1962. Princess Gina of Countess Wilcek, in Vaduz on October 18, aged 67: Austrian-born consort of the 83-year-old Franz Josef of Lichtenstein, the minute and immensely wealthy statelet sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland. He is the longest-ruling head of state in the world. Cecil Benjamin Allsopp, on October 16, aged 85: consultant physicist emeritus and emeritus Professor of Physics Applied to Medicine at Guy's Hospital, where he held the chair from 1953 to 1970.

James Walsh, who died on Oc YEAH, BUT KmYOifRB MWXHES MUCH MOPS PANSEWS! THGFBOMA DRU67HAT CIA1M50VER 2sofloomee AYGHKf MU.Weatfterby Scott O'Dell, born Los Angeles, May 24, 1898; died Mount Kisk, New York, October 15, 1989. Walter L. Farley, who has died at the age of 73, was one of the most commercially successful of American writers of books for children. His score of "Black Stallion" stories sold more than 12 million copies and were translated into twenty languages. He had completed the twenty-first story in the series not long before his death.

Amalgamated Metal Corporation, 58; Mavis Nicholson, television interviewer, 59; Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Pollock, 73; W.H. Ponsford, Australian cricketer, 89; Air Marshal Sir Anthony Sklngsley, Commander-in-Chief, RAF, Germany, 56; Air Chief Marshal Sir Neville Stack, director-general, Asbestos International Association, 70; Major Sir Patrick Wall, former Conservative MP, 73; Peter Whiston, architect, 77; Don Whitehead, electronics engineer, inventor, 52. 11 Overstatement (or effect (9). 13 Several works or programmes in one (7). 14 Dreary (7).

15 Exhausted, denigrated, or knocked over (3-4). 1( Monster encountered by Odysseus (6). IS Exhaust (3. 2) Solution No. 8,013 The tacts In 1978 Dr Guirguis was appointed a consultant radiologist by the predecessors to the Trent Regional Health Authority.

On March 13 1985, the health authority refused his application for unpaid leave of absence to take a radiology post in Saudi Arabia. On March 27 Dr Guirguis stated that he had to travel to Egypt to see his aged father who was very ill, and the health authority agreed to release him for that purpose from April 11985. He returned to his duties on May 20 1985. On June 12 the health authority informed Dr Guirguis that they believed that he had not gone to see his father but to worRlffSmfflATa-" bia. Disciplinary proceedings were started and Dr Guirguis was suspended on full pay.

On November 11 1985, the health authority, on the recommendation of a sub-committee, terminated his employment forthwith and paid him up to that day. Dr Guirguls's appeal to the health authority was dismissed. In February 1987 he wrote to the Secretary of State invoking the procedure under paragraph 190 of the National Health Service Terms and Conditions of Service of Hospital Medical and Dental Staff (England and Wales). The Secretary of State replied that he had no jurisdiction under paragraph 190 in cases of summary dismissal. Mr Justice Popplewell Ok YOU CAN BE Roger Aubrey Baskerville Mynors, bom July 28, 1903; died October 18.

1989. A full appreciation by E.A. Kenney, Sir Roger's Cambridge successor and friend, will follow later. tober 7, aged 89, was an editor of The Catholic Times, 1937-62 who had the ear of the hierarchy both as publicist and for his advice as an accountant (articled originally to Cardinal Heenan's brother). Cyril Mathew, in Colombo on October 16, aged 77: Sinhalese nationalist and former Minister for Industry, expelled from the cabinet in 1984 for attacking a conference called by President Jayewardene to consider Tamil grievances.

A strong opponent of Tamil he proposed that Sinhala should be Sri Lanka's only official language, and that Buddhism should be the officially favoured religion: (Most Tamils, 18 per cent of the population, are Hindus.) WELL, AT LBA5T I'M NOT OflJEWftf PROS AT LBA5TX PONTLBAD KIPS TO CRACK BY. anrsY. LIGHTEN HMfENS BASiCAUY tS WAT I VtUMMIT WW anA T14EM RcAttCr uune Efcrflct.v rc a HEJ SCMEASClOlftBUoib I BOUNCE. BACK UP t'S -jfo i i2 1 i5 1 i6 9 io 111 13 14 15 16 17" 118 19 So-" 5T 22H I A -MM 'i 1 -tot i I Across 1 Taunt speaker (6). 4 Mora than enough (S) 7 Seller of stockings, etc.

(6). I Socialise with (6). 9 Added to (4). 10 Dark wood (8). 12 Creature bringing luck yen promised (anag.) (S, 6).

17 Magician (8). 19,20 No sailer (10). 21 Walking (2, 4). 22 Greek fabulist (5). 23 Now Sri Lanka (6), Down 1 Ruffian (7).

2 Deep red (7). 3 Whlttlngton? (4, S). 4 Galore a dancer! (1, 4). 5 Shrove Tuesday tare (7). Early stage of Development law 4).