The Goat Doctor

1st Broadcast Saturday 14th September 2024 at 3pm BBC Radio 4

Director

Dirk Maggs

Executive Producer

Dirk Maggs

Producer

David Morley

Written By

Graeme Garden

Produced For

BBC Radio 4

Produced by

A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4

Synopsis

Doctor John Romulus Brinkley (1885-1941) was a poor boy from the Appalachian Mountains who became a quack doctor and one of the richest men in America. His practice took off after he successfully grafted the testicles of a goat onto a farmer to revive his flagging vigour.

Brinkley's fame spread, and to advertise his services he set up a radio station. At its height XER, broadcasting from Mexico to reach the Canadian Border, was the most powerful and popular station in the world. His personal broadcasts, in which he advocated his cures in reply to correspondents, were interspersed with music, preachers, astrology, and other items.

Brinkley became a multi-millionaire, with private yachts and planes. He was nearly elected Governor of Kansas and was talked of as a possible right wing Presidential candidate. Among those who broadcast on his station was Fritz Kuhn, the American Nazi leader.

Constantly harried by the American Medical Association and the US Government, who tried to prosecute him on the grounds of his dubious qualifications and medical and broadcasting practices, Brinkley ended up in a 'Quack War' with fellow charlatan Dr James Middlebrook.

Finally, sued for back taxes, discredited by the AMA and suffering from the tightening of broadcasting legislation, Brinkley was declared bankrupt and indicted by the Post Office for fraudulent use of their services. He died aged 56 before standing trial, having neglected to avail himself of his own goat gland therapy.