Years of travels culminated in practice at coastal resort

During his 62 years, he has lived and worked as a dentist in Sweden, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as his native Sudan.

But in 2002 he decided to come and "see how life was here" in the UK, moving first to a general practice in Lincolnshire and then to another in Essex.

"Then I started to be interested in having my own business," he said. "At the beginning of 2005 I was contacted to find out if I would be interested in coming and working with the Primary Care Trust here in Scarborough – there was a big shortage of dentists here at that time.

"I came up to Scarborough a couple of times and I liked it. I like the hills and I very much like the landscape in this part of England. It's very quiet, and I feel I can contribute quite a lot here."

Dr Osman opened his practice in the town centre in 2005, and thanks to the lengthy waiting list for people wanting to see an NHS dentist, it was quickly thriving. Nearly six years later, now aged 62, he considers Scarborough his adopted home.

"I'm really enjoying it here," he said. "It was a little bit different in the beginning, because I've always lived in big cities. So to come to a small place like Scarborough was different, but it's nice to be by the sea and I like it very much – it's a relaxing part of England and I have made quick friendships with local people here.

"I enjoy working at my practice and have managed to see quite a lot of people off the (NHS) waiting list here. In the first two or three years we managed to accommodate about 8,000 patients. I feel useful here, which is really nice."

He says integrating into North Yorkshire life has been smooth.

"When I arrived, people were very friendly and easy to be in touch with," he said. "I'm now approaching my seventh year here and I've never had any sort of unpleasantness."