Mr. Malcolm Linsell

B.Sc., M.B.B.S., M.S., F.R.A.C.S.

Plastic Surgeon, Business Person, Entrepreneur, Investor

In 1968, I had just turned 13 years of age. I was fat, shy and very unsure of my place in the world.

I had grown up in Perth, the previous year attending my first year of High School. The family was transferred to the large city of Melbourne, which meant I was to attend my fifth school in seven years.

Apart from my size, I had two distinguishing features; I could play the trumpet (well, the cornet actually, having been brought up in the Salvation Army) and I had a burning desire to become a doctor.

Such was my background as I commenced third form at Camberwell High School.

My recollections of Camberwell High seem centred around particular teachers and students. I remember our music teacher, Mr Trevare being gifted, but eccentric. Eccentricity is also the best word I can find to describe Mr Wilkinson who liked to wear short sleeves in winter and jumpers in summer. There was Miss Rusden who conveyed a tough exterior, which I always suspected covered a heart of gold. And then there was Mrs Tempest. She was a beautiful woman who loved us all, yet somehow was able to make me feel unique and special.

I must also give a mention to Mr Mitchell. Whenever he wanted the classes’ attention he would call out “eyes and ears”. We were expected to put down our pens, look to the front and listen intently. I thought I might put a slightly different interpretation on the saying. One day, I brought to school two large plastic ears that had been lying dormant in the bottom of one of the cupboards at home. I gave one to my friend Allen Rooney so that when the command for “eyes and ears” was made, we would both lob an ear from the back of the classroom and aim to hit the blackboard. Unfortunately, we were both quite excitable youths. When the command was made we promptly stood up and hurled the ears with all the force we could muster. One of us, I can’t remember which, had a particularly poor aim. Mr Mitchell who was sitting at his desk, was hit flush in the face with a large plastic ear that sent his glasses flying across the desk. All but three people roared with laughter. Mr Mitchell was stunned more than anything else. Allen and I knew we were in deep trouble. To his everlasting credit, Mr Mitchell gathered his thoughts, and his glasses, and asked the perpetrators to come forth. This we did and, rather than march us straight to Mr Slattery’s office, Mr Mitchell acknowledged the intent, but suggested that a more appropriate action would have been to simply get up and place the ears on his desk. In retrospect, that would have been just as funny. It also might not have put us at risk of an assault charge.

Whilst in third form, I joined the school Bounceball team. This was no mean feat because most of the team consisted of fully-grown sixth formers and I was still struggling through puberty. Bounceball is a game similar to Volleyball, but played on a trampoline. I managed to make the team for the interschool grand final. After some torrid competition we won 16-2. (I lost the two games, but at least I won one game against an angry young man twice my size.)

The Dance Band was a new innovation for Camberwell High School. The Big-Band sound was popular at the time so, over the years, we gained somewhat of a cult following. The highlights for me were an appearance on the television show “New Faces” with us all dressed in school uniform, and a concert that we performed on the main steps of the school late in our final year. For this we had special permission to dress up and I thought I was incredibly cool dressed in an old pair of overalls with a red scarf around my neck.

Perhaps the personal highlight of my non-academic pursuits was conducting the Roosevelt house choir. All houses were to prepare and sing the classic hymn “Jerusalem”. It starts with the line “And did those feet in ancient times ...” My brother still reminds me how embarrassed he felt when in my opening speech to the choir, I said, “I don’t care what Anne did. I want to hear - And did those feet.” The adjudicator for the competition was Val Pyers who in fact was a former teacher of mine. I think my somewhat acrobatic conducting must have impressed him, although it certainly helped to have the brilliant Michael Tyack at the piano and an extremely enthusiastic choir.

One might get the impression that my schooling at Camberwell was all fun and games. Unfortunately, this was not the case as my burning desire was to do Medicine. This dream had in part been the result of an accidental burn to my hands when I was 18 months old. As a result of this I needed to see a Plastic Surgeon when I was 13 in order to have a skin graft. I had decided I was going to become a doctor at the age of six following a visit to the local doctor’s surgery. I suspect that I must have assumed he was very rich and thought that this would be a good career path for me. This desire was cemented when, following my Plastic Surgical operation, I saw my surgeon drive off in a Jaguar and I decided, “I want to be like that man”.

Not having the intelligence of somebody like Barry George, this meant that I had to work my butt off

. In my HSC year, I would study for two hours before I went to school, resuming when I returned home from school, and often not getting to bed until midnight. It was therefore extremely disappointing for me to receive my HSC results realising that they were nowhere near the marks required to get into Medicine. I commenced a Science degree at Monash University (on a Free Place) intending to switch to Medicine as soon as possible. Three years later I had a Science degree that seemed to me to be completely irrelevant. I decided that I had to be “practical”. I thus applied for, and gained, entry to Pharmacy College. I remember attending orientation day in turmoil as my head confirmed this was the place to be, but my heart vehemently disagreed. When I returned home that day there was a letter waiting for me confirming that I had been accepted into Medicine. I still see it as one of the greatest days of my life.

I became a doctor in 1979 and almost immediately began studying for my First Part of the surgical examination. Finding time for study was never easy as I was often working up to 100 hours a week in hospital. It took me three attempts to pass the surgical First Part.

After entering surgical training, I decided that Plastic Surgery would be a good field because:

It tended to put things back and repair, rather than cut things out and throw them away;

Plastic Surgery was not limited to one area of the body so I felt I would not get bored;

I felt this type of surgery would be around for many years given that people would always be having accidents or wanting to improve their appearance.

Part of my Plastic Surgical training involved a couple of research years where I performed microsurgery on rats. When I had finished with them they were the most attractive rats in the country. I was later awarded a Masters of Surgery for this work. The latter part of my training took me to London where I met a beautiful nurse in the operating theatre. Fiona became my wife twelve months later and soon after I dragged her out to Australia. It took another three attempts to complete the Second Part of the Surgical Fellowship, but the timing was perfect as our first child Rebekah was born the week I commenced practice in 1991. Our son Timothy was born 19 months later.

I have been in private practice ever since and the practice now primarily revolves around Cosmetic Surgery. I continue to be amazed at the positive affect this type of surgery often has on the way a person feels about himself or herself. It makes my work extremely gratifying and I feel very privileged.

Fiona has worked in the practice since its inception. Her current expertise is in the administration of Botox and Collagen. Rebekah is now eleven and is an elite gymnast preparing for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Timothy, ten, is a swimmer and he is preparing for the same Olympics. The sporting commitments of our children means there needs to be give and take from all of us and this is exemplified by the fact that the children had to come and support their Mum and Dad who competed in the swimming events in the recent World Masters Games held in Melbourne. Bek and Tim have also become St. Kilda supporters (who else), which is just as well because they are dragged along on most match days to support not only the team, but also their Dad who sits on the bench ready to repair any match day wounds.

Rebekah, Fiona, Mal and Timothy Linsell

The journey from Camberwell High School to Medicine and beyond has been, and continues to be an exciting one. I love life and look forward to all the future has in store.

Malcolm's website is www.newyou.com.au and his email address is contact@newyou.com.au

Malcolm belongs to the following Medical Associations:

Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons

Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons

American Society Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (International Correspondent)

International Society Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons

Debs - The 1971 Choral Festival saw the choir conductors and pianists in a number onstage....with an enthusiastic Robert Gavin conducting. Behind Tony Coulepis, you can see Malcolm getting really into it! I note that the 1971 Prospice noted that Malcolm's conducting was 'flamboyant'!

By the way, Malcolm mentioned Val Pyers, who adjudicated the massed singing - I should mention that Val formed The Melbourne Chorale and conducted them for many years. So, he was well qualified to judge Roosevelt's efforts...and Malcolm's acrobatic conducting!

Anyone wishing to see the famous dance band can look at the bottom of Tony Coulepis's entry in the gallery here