Strange Possession at Viner Sound

Robin Percival Smith was born in London and educated in England at St John’s School, Leatherhead, Surrey. After school he was drafted into the army for national service. He was selected for officer training in the Royal Artillery and posted to Hong Kong in the 34th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. After finishing service he was accepted by Gonville and Caius College (1950), Cambridge, to study medicine. He continued his clinical studies at The Westminster Hospital Medical School in London and in 1956 graduated MB Bchir.

In 1958 he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and immigrated to Canada. He was posted to 442 Search and Rescue Squadron in Vancouver. In 1961 he went into private practice in Richmond, BC. In 1971 he was appointed Staff Physician at the Student Health Service of the University of British Columbia. Because of his interest in Women’s Health, he was invited to be an investigator on The Canadian Committee for Fertility Research and later a member of that committee. He developed a research interest in the development of Post Coital Contraception and other women’s health issues. In 1976 he was a founder member of the Canadian Andrology Society and was appointed a member of the WHO Task Force on Male Fertility Control, Clinical Trials Division. In 1981 he was appointed Director of Student Health and in 1989 retired from the university.

After retirement he pursued his passion for single handed sailing in his vessel Tremethick II on the west coast of Canada and Alaska. He wrote two books, a novel, A Tale of Whales(under Robin Kingsley), and a biography, Captain McNeill and his Wife the Nishga Chief. Both these books as well as, Strange Possession at Viner Sound are set on the west coast of Canada.