Sheridan William Robin Russell (23 March 1900 – 9 April 1991) was a cellist, medical doctor, and patron of the arts. He was Head Almoner at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and founded the Paintings in Hospitals charity.[1] [2]
He was the younger son of the professor of singing and the San Carlo and later Boston Opera director Henry Russell and his wife, Nina . Russell was partially of Jewish descent through his parents and of Spanish and Portuguese descent through his mother.[2]
He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 4 April 1970.[3]
Russell was known as Britain's first male almoner.[4]
Russell did not speak until he was three years old. At five years of age, he began to learn the cello. As a child in Paris, he was frequently taken to lunch with Claude Debussy. It was Debussy who diagnosed Russell as being partially deaf.[5]
During World War II, Russell worked for British Intelligence in Italy.[6]
He married the social worker and university teacher Katherine Russell on 1 June 1957. Russell died at his home on 9 April 1991 and a book on him Sheridan's Story was published privately by his wife in 1993 and all 1800 copies were sold.[2]