TY - JOUR T1 - Unhistoric acts JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 366 LP - 366 DO - 10.3399/bjgp15X685813 VL - 65 IS - 636 AU - Andrew Sharp Y1 - 2015/07/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/65/636/366.abstract N2 - For a quarter of a century I practised in a place described by the late landscape historian WG Hoskins as ‘the rock bottom of English provincial life ...’ 1 Much of the practice area comprised tight rows of slate-roofed terraces hastily put up in the late 1800s to house brick factory workers. The stairs inside these 600 homes were vertiginously steep, the treads just wide enough to support the forefoot. The tiny living rooms had barely space for a gas fire, a 2-seater sofa, a telly, a birdcage, and a polyester rug.Over the branch railway line lay an estate of plain and modest semis and bungalows built in the 1960s. Parked out the front might be an economical Korean car. Beyond each half-glassed kitchen door was a rectangle of grass patronised by a small dog, while along the lap-panel fence was a flowerbed planted with Wilko perennials. The shopping street included a discount carpet outlet, a chiropodist, a white goods store, and a bap shop. A bingo hall offered transitory entertainment and conviviality. Two pharmacies cashed the prescriptions that half the population depended on … ER -