Peter Diggory was a consultant gynaecologist at Kingston and the Royal Marsden, who, as medical adviser to the Liberal MP David Steel, played a significant role in the passing of the Abortion Act in 1967. He was born in Titley, Herefordshire, the fourth child of Edwin Ernest Diggory, a stationmaster, and Ada Ann Diggory née Noun. As a child he contracted polio and was treated in a plaster cast so that his mobility was limited, but he read extensively. He won a scholarship to Worcester Royal Grammar School and then proceeded to University College London (at that time evacuated to Bangor). He read maths and physics and graduated in 1942. He was then selected by C P Snow, the distinguished scientist and novelist, to join his team, which was developing radar during the Second World War. After the war Snow wanted him to continue working with him, but Peter wanted to be a doctor and he secured a place at University College Medical School. While he was a medical student he was elected president of the British Medical Student Association. He qualified in 1950. He first pursued general surgical training, in the course of which he took both the Edinburgh and English fellowships. Immediately before starting his first resident post in obstetrics at Queen Charlotte's he was acting as a consultant surgeon at the Mayday Hospital. On the morning of the day he was due to start his new post, he had to send a message that he would be late as he was engaged on an emergency colectomy, which greatly impressed his fellow residents! His gynaecological training was at the Hospital for Women, Soho, and Westminster, proceeding to consultant appointments at Kingston and the Royal Marsden, which reflected his skills in the treatment of gynaecological cancer. However, it was in the management of the common emergency problem of abortion that Peter made ground breaking progress. Spontaneous abortion occurs in about one fifth of pregnancies and, if managed properly, is not a cause of concern, but the catastrophic disasters arising from procured (criminal) abortion, or as he called them 'botched operations', have major and frequently fatal consequences. When he arrived at Kingston the hospital was admitting over 400 cases of septic abortion a year and nothing was really being done to deal with the cause or the management of this awful situation until Peter made his contribution. Contraceptive advice was not readily available in hospitals and changing the law on abortion based on the 1861 Act found little favour with the president and fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Peter took the courageous step of joining the Abortion Law Reform Association. At that time management of unwanted pregnancy was influenced by the 'Bourne case' in 1938, when the judgement of Mr Justice McNaughton defined that an instrument could not be used illegally to procure an abortion, but could be used legally. A legal nicety with words, but to do this required a psychiatric opinion and limited this option to patients who had access to this approach. To change the law required an Act of Parliament. A Liberal MP, David (later Lord) Steel, was sympathetic to this and Peter was his adviser throughout the process of steering the Bill through Parliament, which became the Abortion Act of 1967. Leading up to this, Peter gave a lecture in 1966 to the Family Planning Association conference on abortion. He gave a personal account of his experience of 1,000 cases managed in the NHS and his private practice, at that time a courageous statement. It was the first time such an account had been given so openly. He compared women having safe NHS and private operations with those having illegal procedures when soap, whisky and even toothpaste had been injected into the uterus. The substance of this lecture was published in the *Lancet* in 1969 as 'Some experiences of therapeutic abortion' (*Lancet* 1969 Apr 26;1[7600]:873-5), and included the memorable phrase: 'like death and taxes, abortion will always be with us'. Peter Diggory was a larger than life figure, a big man, always cheerful and of a most gentle nature, which almost concealed his passionate desire to protect the welfare of women and their wish to choose whether or not they were pregnant. During his time as a student he met and married Patricia McConnell, who became a social worker. They had an interest in theatre, especially the fringe, and were trustees of a children's theatre company, Quicksilver. Sadly, Patricia died in 2002 and his later years were clouded with diabetes and vascular dementia, but even then he could play an excellent game of chess. They had two children, Paul and Jane. Paul is a consultant physician specialising in the care of the elderly. Peter Diggory died of heart failure on 22 November 2009 aged 85.