Dr Simon Forman by Judith Cook. (Chatto &d Windus, £18.99)

Elizabethan London, with its bawdiness, violence and ghastly practices which passed for medical care, comes vividly to life in this biography.

Self-made doctor, Simon Forman, rose from a poor country background to run one of the wealthiest medical practices in London.

His lack of the required qualifications caused him endless trouble with the recognised licensing authority, the Royal College of Physicians.

But his methods were no worse, and in some cases better, than those of many qualified medical men.

What makes Forman unique is the vast legacy of manuscripts he left behind. These include a brief autobiography, a long diary and personal jottings recording aspects of his life including his compulsive womanising.

Judith Cook has chosen her material well and the result is a feast for social history enthusiasts.

There are first-hand accounts, for example, of some of Shakespeare's plays, which he saw at the Globe theatre.

There is also speculation by Cook that one of Forman's patients, with whom he had an unsatisfactory dalliance, might have been none other than the famous Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets.