Brian Hardcastle was an ENT surgeon in private practice in Gainesville, Florida. He was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, on 14 March 1925, the only son of Francis Beaumont Hardcastle, a pharmacist, and his wife, Florence May née Boothroyd, a builder’s daughter. He was educated at Paddock Elementary School and Royds Hall Grammar School and in 1944 joined the Royal Navy. There he rose to become a petty officer radar mechanic. On demobilisation in 1947 he entered Leeds School of Medicine. After house surgeon and house physician appointments at the County Hospital York, he specialized in otorhinolaryngology, becoming a registrar at York and passing the FRCS in 1962. He then went to the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, as a registrar and first assistant to McBeth and Gavin Livingstone and carried out research into cochlear pathology following stapes stimulation, which was published in 1968. He emigrated to the United States, where he set up in private practice in Florida. He married Heather Sheila Holt, a doctor, in 1954. They had one son and one daughter. His hobbies included boating, fishing and golf. He died on 6 January 2008.