Malcolm Donaldson: paediatric endocrinologist, musician, and proud collaborator with his wife Julia, author of The Gruffalo

Abstract

Julia and Malcolm Donaldsondonaldson20241111.f1 Malcolm Donaldson was a distinguished paediatric endocrinologist with a string of research publications to his name—but he was also happy to play second fiddle (almost literally) to his wife Julia, the celebrated author of much loved children’s books, including The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom. Malcolm, a talented musician and performer, accompanied his wife as she toured festivals, schools, and libraries in the UK and around the world. Together they performed the stories, with Malcolm acting characters ranging from an accident prone dragon to a comic cattle thief. His star role, in the words of Julia’s literary agent, was “a particularly suave fox” in The Gruffalo. Malcolm met Julia Shields when they were students at the University of Bristol and they married in 1972. Donaldson went on to work in Brighton, London, and Lyon, France, before moving back to Bristol to be a senior registrar in paediatrics. Six years later he moved to Glasgow where he was appointed a paediatric consultant at Yorkhill Hospital and a senior lecturer at Glasgow University. Donaldson started as a single handed paediatric endocrinologist and he soon established a range of multidisciplinary clinics and services for children. His main interests were thyroid problems and Turner and Prader-Willi syndromes. At the time there were few specialist clinics and he quickly became a respected …