Sir Christopher Booth presents a brief history of the Royal College of Physicians and then gives a detailed explanation of the events leading up to the publishing of their seminal report on the hazards of smoking in 1962. Among those he discusses are past Presidents of the College, Sir Russell Brain and Robert Platt. He refers to the first meeting of the Committee to Report on Smoking and Atmospheric Pollution on 15 July 1959 and calls the Smoking and Health report of 1962 "the most important contribution to health by the Royal College this century".