In the current furore over fundamental changes proposed for the NHS, it would be much better if everyone involved clearly understood how and why the service was established, how it evolved early on, and what had existed before. A fairly safe bet, though, is that given an MCQ on those subjects, most participants in today's events would emerge with little credit. Yet the whole story is now accessible to them -told by Charles Webster (1988) with outstanding scholarship and clarity, lightened by a slightly acerbic wit.