Professor John Howie's essay captures many of the problems that were faced by the emerging academic departments of general practice in UK medical schools.1 As one of those involved over 30 years ago I was only too aware of the ‘real doctors’ or ‘real academics’ tension he refers to. After 20 years as a full-time ‘real GP’ I found myself facing the challenge of setting up academic general practice on a shoestring in a university reluctant to do it. Critically important was the support of local GP colleagues who were willing and enthusiastic to teach, initially for peanuts. This and the appreciation by students of the relevance and value of this teaching ensured survival in hard times. As Howie says, it is encouraging and satisfying to see how far academic general practice has progressed.
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