James Freeman was a consultant ENT surgeon in Bristol. He studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1940. He gained his FRCS in 1948 and his diploma in laryngology and otology in 1950. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a house surgeon at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, a resident surgical officer at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and then a senior registrar at Bristol General Hospital. He had five children - Wendy, Sue, Joy, James ('Jim', who is a consultant anaesthetist in Kettering) and Pamela. His first wife, Hilda Mary, died in 1973 and he later married Dorothy, his dearest companion through his retired years. He died on 25 April 2010, a day before his 96th birthday. At the time of his death he had eight grandchildren; Heidi, Christian, Jessica, Joceline, Petrina, Laura, Harriet and Emily; and four great grandchildren; Joseph, Holly, Isobel and Hebe.