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14 March 2023

Student-led GKT Gazette celebrates its 150th anniversary edition

First published in 1872, the journal provides a historical record of the life and times of students and staff at King’s College London's medical, dental and nursing schools, as well as the Guy's, St Thomas' and King's Hospitals.

GTK Gazette Cover

This year the GTK Gazette celebrates 150 years of chronicling university and work life as experienced by the King’s College London community. Originally The Guy’s Hospital Gazette, the publication took on its current form following the merger of the medical schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals in 1982, and King’s College Hospital in 1997. After a couple years of inactivity it is being reinvigorated by a new, student-run, editorial team.

For much of its history the Gazette was published fortnightly and was the main source of information about what was happening in and around the medical school and it's associated hospitals. Times have changed and the Gazette has adapted accordingly; the editorial team now plans to publish termly, with a view to ‘look back’ over the previous term with each edition.

To play a part in the revival of the Gazette is a great privilege, as is following in the footsteps of my predecessors. May there be many generations more.”

Arnav Umranikar, Co-editor

All correspondence, writing, editing and collation of articles is conducted by a team of students spanning medicine, dentistry and the allied health professions. Contributions are selected by the writing and editing team, the latter of which is appointed by the Board of Trustees, made up of staff who are affiliated with the Guy’s, King’s College and St Thomas’ Hospitals.

Considering its lineage and role, the Gazette has become an invaluable historical record of the life and times of the students and staff of the medical, dental and nursing schools, as well as a reflection of wider society itself during the 19th, 20th and 21st century. The significance of this historical record has been recognised and the editorial team is working with the British Library to ensure digital/pdf, open access versions of all editions are available to the public.

The new editorial team hopes to continue this tradition for the years to come, with plans to publish future editions both online and in print. Printed copies of the publication can be found on King’s campuses in magazine booths, as well as delivered directly to the address of subscribers.

150 years of the Gazette is 150 years of an independent, student voice. It is a privilege to hold the baton as did the generations before.”

Morgan Bailey, Co-editor

Set up as an independent charity, the Gazette is supported by donations from King’s College London and its alumni. Read the 150th anniversary edition here. To subscribe contact gktgazette@kcl.ac.uk

The Gazette has captured the spirit of many significant moments in world history, including:

  • The outbreak of World War 1 (August 1914)
  • Armistice Day (November 1918)
  • A Royal visit to Guy’s Hospital by Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth (May 1945)
  • An extensive feature about the impact of the Blitz on Guy’s Hospital (July 1945)
  • The official founding of the NHS (July 1948)
  • A piece on the impact of the Vietnam War on the University of Saigon and its medical teaching (1966)
  • A report on drink/drug-driving following the ascent of the 1967 Road Safety bill that brought in the current alcohol limit for driving (1967)
  • 250th anniversary of the burial of Thomas Guy (1975)
  • The Nobel Prize of Dr Godfrey N Hounsfield, inventor of the EMI scanner (October 1979)
  • The Gulf War via an account from a surgeon directly involved (May 1991)
  • Completion of a ‘rough draft’ of the human genetic code by the Human Genome Project (2000)

As well as some interesting and sometimes unusual content on:

  • Regular reviews of plays from a Theatre correspondent including articles on: An Inspector Calls, Guy's and Dolls, and Grease on Stage (1980s)
  • A 10-part report analysing the medical tidbits in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels - tragically cut short by the author's death (1980-1981) 
  • A mini-report on the inauguration of the Guy's Wine Society (1981)
  • The Guy’s trained dentist who went on to become a sculptor, putting his dentistry skills to good use while sculpting a life-size hippo (2000)
  • How to browse the internet (2000)
  • The highs and lows of the Guy’s and King’s football teams (in 1967 it is documented that King’s beat Guy’s, having also recently won the Premier Division, the University Cup and the six-a-side tournament)