You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service.

This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the program.

I do hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service.

I'm Stephen Sacker.

My guest today has an extraordinary and long life story. Dr. William Franklin was born in 1912,

just before the First World War. He trained as a doctor and served in the Medical Corps in

World War II. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese and is one of the last survivors of those cruelest of military prison camps.

After the war, he became one of the world's leading experts on allergies.

Among those he worked with was Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered the powers of penicillin.

Anyone who suffers from hay fever and relies upon daily measurement of the

pollen count owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. William Franklin. He's still working, writing and

keeping up with the latest research at 106. His is a death-defying, life-affirming story. So what keeps him going? Well, I'm delighted to say

William Franklin joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. Let me ask you first, what took you into the

world of medicine? You said that one reason you chose to be a doctor, even though

your parents had no tradition in medicine, was because you've always taken a great interest in

people. Is that still true today? That's very true. I always say when I see, when I was seeing

ill patients, to me, that was a patient with an illness which had to be helped in some way.

But whether like my most famous patient and my most grateful patient, I said,

it doesn't matter whether you're a head of the state or you're a beggar. I said this actually to him. I said, it doesn't matter whether you're headed a state or when you're a beggar.

I said this actually to him. I said, I treat you as a patient and I hope you'll follow my advice.

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