Document resource
Ken was born in Sunderland in humble circumstances. He was an only child but close to his cousin, Derek Foster, who became a Labour MP then peer. Ken was educated at the Bede Grammar School and graduated from Newcastle Medical School, then part of the University of Durham. After national service in South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong he worked in medicine. In 1958 he moved into psychiatry, training in Newcastle and London before returning to Newcastle to take up a consultant post.