Born on 24 October, 1903, the son of Elvina and Herbert Brock. Educated at Christ’s Hospital he entered Guy’s Medical School, with an arts scholarship, at the age of 17. As a medical student he early showed the brilliance and force of character which were to mark his whole career. He won the Treasurer’s Gold Medal both in medicine and in surgery, and the Golding Bird Medal in pathology. He also won the BMA Prize Essay in 1926. After qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma he sat the London MB BS examination a year later and obtained honours in medicine, surgery and anatomy. He became Hunterian Professor in 1928 and in 1929 he was awarded a Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship and joined the department of Evarts Graham in St Louis, from which time he developed his interest in thoracic surgery. On his return he became surgical registrar and tutor at Guy’s and in 1932 a research fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain. In 1935 he won the Jacksonian Prize, and in the same year was appointed consultant thoracic surgeon to the LCC. In 1936 he was appointed to the staff of Guy’s and the Brompton Hospital and Surgeon to the Ministry of Pensions at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton. During the second world war he was thoracic surgeon and regional advisor in thoracic surgery to the EMS. After the war he was elected to the Council of the College to the work of which he had devoted so much time despite his heavy clinical and teaching commitments. He served from 1949 to 1966 successively as a member of Council, Vice-President and finally President from 1963 to 1966. During this period he delivered an outstanding Bradshaw Lecture in 1957 and Hunterian Oration in 1960. After relinquishing the Presidency he became a member of the Court of Patrons and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hunterian Collection. On retirement from his hospital posts in 1968 he continued to devote himself to his private patients and to his researches as director of the College’s department of surgical sciences which he had promoted while President. He maintained that private practice and hospital care were complementary to the NHS. He was active in promoting the Private Pensions Plan, of which he was Chairman from 1967 to 1977 and President in 1978. As well as being himself a pioneer in numerous cardio-thoracic techniques Brock was always interested in the work of others, from Sir Astley Cooper – a predecessor at Guy’s – to contemporary surgeons such as Alfred Blalock, who came to Guy’s as a visiting professor. One of the numerous honours which he particularly cherished was that of honorary visiting physician to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. In all he received twenty or more honorary Fellowships and Doctorates from the British Isles, Europe and North and South America, as well as numerous prizes and gold medals. He was President of the Thoracic Society in 1951, President of the Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland in 1958 and President of the Medical School of London in 1968. He wrote extensively on surgical subjects: from his first paper as a student in the *Guy’s Hospital gazette*, written at the age of 20, to one of his last, before he retired at 65. Apart from his own publications he contributed many chapters to other volumes and one hundred and twenty individual papers with the same number in collaboration. His best known publications were: *The anatomy of the bronchial tree*, *The anatomy of congenital pulmonary stenosis*, *The life and work of Astley Cooper*, and *Lung abscess*. He wrote succinctly and would not tolerate misuse of the English language – to the patient who asked ‘Do I need surgery, Sir?’ he replied, ‘Everyone needs surgery, Madam, what you need is an operation!’ In teaching and training students and young surgeons he expected the same dedication which he displayed himself, and would not tolerate laziness nor suffer fools gladly. Those who passed successfully through the fire could be sure of his continued interest and encouragement. Brock’s literary interests were early appreciated at Guy’s where he was chosen as assistant editor of the *Guy’s Hospital reports* in 1935, before he was appointed to the staff, and editor in 1939. He remained in office till 1960. His others interests were historical and antiquarian. He had an extensive knowledge of old furniture and prints, a special interest London Bridge and its environs. He was closely involved in identifying, restoring and preserving the operating theatre at old St Thomas’s Hospital. In 1927 he married a Frenchwoman, Germaine Louise Ladezere and they had three daughters. Brock was not an easy man to know nor, on occasion, to work with. His shyness had a determined character, and his brusque manner was both in compensation for his shyness and cloak which concealed his essential kindness and generosity. His last years were saddened by the death of one of his three daughters, who had married Colin Howe FRCS, followed by that of his wife and also by the modifications which circumstances made necessary to his beloved department of surgical sciences. In 1979 he married Christine Palmer Jones who survives him. He died at Guy’s Hospital on September 3, 1980.