In memory of body-snatchers and headhunters
It's a tricky business, naming modern-day edifices after long-dead people. You might have an idea in mind that your candidate was a solid citizen with many outstanding virtues, but it's often worth checking just in case there's a skeleton or two in the closet. The John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, NSW, offers a couple of examples. I was health reporter for The Newcastle Herald at the time the John Hunter Hospital was opened, and I recall a suggestion by the health board chairman that the hospital be named the "Johns Hunter". This was, I think, a…