vol 2 issue 2 - Houghton-le-Spring

THE HOUGHTONIAN | JUNE 2012 | VOL 2 ISSUE 2 | ISSN 1757-3890DR JOHN SELWYN MORLEY, PhD, MD, DScHoughton Heritage Society is proud to announce that supporter Jack Morley, has been appointed asHonourary President. Jack was born at 32 Edwin Street in 1925 and his memories of Houghton,particularly of the 1930s, have been of great help to the Society since he first got in touch back in 2007.Jack is a modest gentleman, however the Society has recently learnt of his life achievements, which aredetailed below, and is now seeking to have his name included in the Houghton Grammar School Book ofHonour which records the achievements of the school’s alumni.Jack attended Newbottle Street Infant and Junior Schools from1930 – 1937, Houghton Secondary/Grammar School from1937 – 1942 and then went to University College Durham tostudy life sciences. After graduation in December 1945 (beingWartime, there were four terms each academic year), he wassent to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to continuehis medical studies and do research on malaria.His subsequent working life has been devoted to medicalresearch, published in some 200 papers. The results woninternational acclaim, resulting in his being invited to be a mainspeaker at many meetings around the world.Until 1982, these researches were at Liverpool, Cambridge andManchester Universities, and at ICI Alderley Park. Highlightswere his prominent role in the isolation and characterisation ofgastrin, the antral hormone; his discovery of a simpler form ofthe hormone now used in hospitals for the assessment ofgastric secretory function; his role in the discovery of Zoladex, agonadorelin analogue for the treatment of prostate cancer; andhis pioneering research on endorphins – our body’s naturalopiates.In 1982 he co-founded a unique multidisciplinary Institute atLiverpool for research on chronic pain. On February 16 th 2011,Liverpool for research on chronic pain. On February 16 th 2011,the Pain Research Institute was awarded Freedom of the City ofLiverpool in recognition of the success of its work over the last30 years. Jack personally raised research grants of over£500,000 during this period, and his own researches solvedproblems in the use of morphine, leading to new procedureswhich are used world-wide.The move to the Institute also enable Jack to pursue researchon his main interest in neurology – the possibility thatregeneration of the human central nervous system (CNS) waspossible. The teaching in medical schools was then that theCNS was ‘fixed, immutable and can’t be changed’. Using novelexperimental systems, he demonstrated that regeneration wasindeed possible. He applied his findings in the treatment ofParkinson’s Disease, and initiated clinical trials which are still inprogress.He and his wife Nancy have been married for 63 years. Theymoved to a home in Cheadle Hulme, near Stockport, in 1954,and still live there. Both have been actively involved in localcommunity work (he was an Urban District Councillor,magistrate, school governor, Chairman of the Scout’sAssociation, Citizen’s Advice Bureau etc).Jack Morley (right) withPaul Lanagan outside theGolden Lion PH, 2011.