Still plenty to see and do in historic Worcestershire spa town

7:10pm Sunday 7th February 2010

By Robert Hale

A GUIDEBOOK to the sights of interest in and around Malvern, which has been bought by generations of visitors to the town, is now being published in a new edition.

The book is What to see in Malvern, and its author is John Harcup, for many years a doctor in the town, and one of Malvern’s most assiduous historians.

Dr Harcup said: “It started back in the 70s when I was giving one of my lectures about Malvern, and somebody said that I ought to make a book of it.”

“In those days, it was letterpress, and the pictures were copperplate. Nowadays, producing a book, actually getting it printed is a very different job, but such is technology,” said Dr Harcup.

However, there was one problem: Dr Harcup was a general practitioner, and by the strict rules of the profession, was forbidden to advertise.

He asked for advice and, sure enough, issuing the book under his own name would have constituted ‘advertising’. So some kind of pseudonym would have to be found.

Dr Harcup said: “It was actually Ted Spencer, who was the editor of the Malvern Gazette at the time, who asked me what my second name was.”

Thus came into being John Winsor, author of the first edition, and several subsequent versions, of What to see in Malvern.

Now the book is coming out in its ninth edition, and over the decades has sold 70,000 copies – a figure that might not make J K Rowling step back in amazement, but is very good indeed for a guide book to a small town like Malvern.

Dr Harcup said: “It has changed over the years and it has expanded quite a bit.

“As soon as I run out of a print run, I tend to get the tourism information centre calling me up asking ‘Where’s your book?’ and then it’s time to look at it again.”

Dr Harcup is chairman of the Malvern Spa Association and is an expert on the history of the Malvern Water Cure – and not only its history, since he has also served as chairman of the medical advisory committee of the British Spas Federation.

He set up Malvern’s first group practice in 1963, and was also a founder of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

When he was awarded an OBE two years ago, he was being honoured for his services both to health and to heritage in Malvern.