So many favourites... I haven't got just one. I enjoy music very much. Very much. I am the very model of a modern major general. I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral. I know the Kings of England and I quote the fights historical. From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical. My name, Allan Trinca And I was born on the 20th of July, 1924. I was actually born at home. My mother, quite proud of that fact, I think. Dad’s name was Alfred John Trinca. He was a surgeon at The Alfred Hospital. That's a movie of our... my home early on. Malvern, Kooyong area. Yes, that when my Dad used to.... smoke. There. Yeah. There’s Mum. Margaret Trinca. She comes from England during World War one. She was in France. My father met her there. My dad loved animals or loved cats. I had two brothers. John, my eldest brother. Five years [older]. Gordon was about three years. That’s me, isn’t it? They were hoping for a girl, of course. And I turned out to be another boy. Our house at Rosebud, for example. There was no toilet in the house. That was how it was those days. The toilet was always outside, so you'd have to walk even at night time. To keep the toilets in order, a night man used to come and collect the bin, empty it and put it back under. I think the heating could have been done by wood fire. Heating up the water. No fridge. Had an ice box. Ice chest they called it. That’s right, ice chest. And that would be changed every few days. Walking up to get the tram to Melbourne Grammar junior school called Grimwade House, down in Caulfield. I think school, depends whether you’re sort of a shy sort of person or not. I think it can be, a little bit, ‘distressing’ is probably not the word, but for a young kid, just starting off, feel a bit shy and uncomfortable perhaps. Just depends on those things... but school is so vital. So important. And the sport, of course. The opportunity to learn and play a sport is good. Football and cricket, two main ones there. War affects people's lives a lot. I just got to 17, end of the school, World War 2 was on. It was 1942, and I joined up then. The Air Force. Point Cook. Did my training down there. I was trained as a fitter armourer with a dive bomber squadron. in New Guinea, Played my part, if you like. Yeah. You don’t know what to expect as a young person going up there and, two years doing your job and want to do it well and not perfect conditions, of course. There never are. You accept that. And the next thing I’m returning to Melbourne, to hospital with a broken leg in five places. See that? 500 pound bomb landed on the right leg. This femur here. They had to do that to get it open, to get the bones here in order. Anyway. You just imagine what that's like a bit. The pilot might have inadvertently pressed the release. Might have. I can’t think there was anything wrong with where I put, where I’d put it on, but all of a sudden, all of a sudden, down she came. I had to come back from New Guinea of course, recover from that. Which I did. I think being of young, young minded spirit, I said I’m not going to leave the Air Force. So I persisted and ended up in Borneo. And that's where I was when the war ended. Two of my... two of my friends, very sadly, were captured by the Japanese and subsequently lost their lives. Unfortunately, that's war. And the rules of what are expected with captives are not necessarily followed by all nations, if you like. I don't... I don't know whether hate’s the right word. Probably a word even stronger than that I would think, because they... were... I don’t know whether you know this, but they were beheaded. So, how can you get over that? War is never the answer. Well, anyway, that's the past. I was pleased to get back and, although injured, at least survive. I was unsettled, I didn't quite know what to do, what I would do, so I did various jobs for a while. And eventually started medicine. Gave that a go. Started that off. And I met a good lady that encouraged me. Gosh who could see that there could be difficulties in [a] six year course. Florence Trinca. But Chris was the name we used. She was in the dental field. That’s how we met actually. “I love you truly. Truly dear”. “I love you truly. Truly dear”. And I said, look, I’ve got to get through first. I've got no resources, no money basically, got no job. In spite of that, she gave me great support. Encouraged me. Pushed me if you like. We got married as a third year medical student. That’s myself of course with my newly married wife. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Love for one another. And respect. Sharing children. She’s the person I fell in love with. “I love you truly. Truly dear”. My good wife who died seven years ago. We were together for 64 years. I spent a lot of time in casualty at Sandringham hospital as well as in home practice there. I became an anaesthetist a few years later. Interested in ear, nose and throat work. ENT clinic at The Alfred. You’ve just got to be totally involved in it. Well you want to be anyway. It's just natural. Looking after individuals of all ages. Total commitment. It’s always a sad moment when you’re treating people, you concerned about their family, about... you've just diagnosed that they've got say cancer or something, you know... This is a medical case, if you like, that you can take with you, portable. I’d be out at night often. My wife... “ you know... It’s the hospital on the phone again”. I’d say, “Oh yes”. So then the next we’re about to have dinner or something, I’d dash off and I’d say “I’ll be back!” You take this with you, and they may need an injection. That syringe... This is very old and hasn’t been opened for a thousand years. More drugs there. See there? Yeah... capsules and things. Goes back a while. So, the ‘hospital’ is their home, where they've called you. When you haven't got support in all the various ways you’ve got to do things yourself, virtually. I'm there to help, help you And if I can't do it, I’ll refer you to somebody who probably can. Not everything is going to go well necessarily. But what you do, you do the best you can. I admired my Dad. The work he was doing was fantastic. He was respected greatly. As a surgeon, he was quick. In those days, you had to be quick because you didn't have anesthetics like you have now. Modern surgery truly dates from the day when the surgeon was assured that his patient felt no pain and was in a state of complete relaxation. I was involved in anesthesia myself and I can think in those days the progression from ether, put over you face as the anesthetic. I remember having it when I had my tonsils out all those years ago. Always smell the ether before using it unless you've just filled the bottle yourself. Drop the ether onto the mask very slowly and cautiously at first, to allow the patient to become accustomed to the smell. It was the days before what we call intubation, put a tube actually down and breathe, breathe for the patient. Complete relaxation was possible. So the discovery of relaxant drugs was, of course, a major improvement. There's been so much progression. There's so many things of technology that have helped. I picked up the most recent text in this field. It's a new, revised edition of a book just off the press, entitled ‘Antibiotics’, But the antibiotics that were developed changed medicine greatly. Before antibiotics, infection. Death resulting from it. Ear, nose and throat. Prevented unnecessary surgery. Antibiotics have helped so much. Yeah. Just done my best. I’ve tried to bring my children up. My wife, when she was alive, we tried to do the best. I hate to use the word ‘decent’, but I mean that's what it amounts to. Being positive, trying not to be negative. Be helpful. It becomes automatic after a while. You know that. Exercise. I think that is very important, if you can do it. Avoiding foods which perhaps are well known to be not good for you. “Do unto others as [you would want] they do to you” is still appropriate, isn’t it? Be grateful to be alive, I think. Lucky!