John Clifford Milner was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon in Harrogate. He was born in Lancashire and educated at Manchester Grammar School. He went on to Manchester University Medical School, qualifying in 1959. He held junior posts in various Manchester hospitals, including Ancoats. During this period he was part of a team whose patients including many famous footballers requiring knee surgery. He then held a research fellowship at Western Reserve Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, where he researched prostheses and developed techniques for improving knee surgery, including repairing sports injuries suffered by American footballers. Once he returned from Ohio he worked in Aberdeen and then, in 1972, he was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Harrogate. Outside medicine he was a keen sportsman and played both rugby and tennis. He enjoyed walking in the Yorkshire Dales and fishing. He regularly attended St Wilfrid's church, Harrogate, where he was churchwarden for many years. He was also a freemason and a former master of Doric Lodge. He retired in 1999, travelled frequently and spent time in his apartment in Spain. John Clifford Milner died suddenly while fishing on the banks of the River Nidd, North Yorkshire. He was 70. He was survived by his wife Beryl, their son David, daughter Caroline and a granddaughter.