He was also a medical advisor to the European Space Agency, the Royal Air Force of Oman and the Civil Aviation Authority.
[1][2] The son of Cyril Cooke, he spent his early childhood in the North West Frontier Province, India.
[3][5] In addition to his studies, he drove ambulances during The Blitz and worked under Alexander Fleming researching penicillin.
[1] On 1 November 1945, Cooke was commissioned into the Medical Branch, Royal Air Force, as a flying officer (emergency).
[14] Having been granted study leave, he joined St George's Hospital, London, as a senior registrar under Sir Ken Robson.
[5] During the posting he became experienced in tropical medicine and he developed a technique of re-hydrating babies with severe fluid loss due to diarrhoea.
[1] He published two articles in The Lancet in 1967; one on the relationship between calcium and sodium excretion and the management of kidney stones, and the other on topical steroids causing the suppression of the adrenal glands.
[3][1] In 1969, he returned to Germany as the physician-in-charge of RAF Hospital Wegberg[2] where he established an intensive care unit.
[1] He remained at RAF Halton for the rest of his career, during which he held a number of senior positions in the Medical Branch.
[16] In addition to his RAF postings, he was a member of the medical advisory board of the European Space Agency from 1978 to 1984.
[3] He was a Consultant Physician to the Civil Aviation Authority from the creation of its medical advisory panel in the late 1970s until 2003.