John Bastow was born in India; his father, a civil engineer, was an Australian and his mother was an Englishwoman from Devonshire. His early days were spent in Australia; he was educated at Hutchings School, Hobart, Tasmania, and Ormond College, University of Melbourne, where he studied medicine. After graduating in 1927 he held house appointments at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne; became a medical registrar, and obtained his medical doctorate in 1931. He then worked his passage to England, intending to take the MRCP degree. Soon after his arrival however he obtained the post of house surgeon to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital at Oswestry, Shropshire, where he came under the influence of Sir Harry Platt and Sir Reginald Watson-Jones. Their example made him decide to become an orthopaedic surgeon, and accordingly he took his Fellowship in 1932, after a course at St Bartholomew's Hospital. At Oswestry he not only changed from medicine to surgery, but also met his wife and their's was an ideally happy marriage. In 1934 he was appointed to the staff of the Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital with wide connections in Somerset and Dorset. There in happy association with C Kindersley he built up an orthopaedic service as good as any other in the country. Among the new fields which he developed were fracture, accident and traumatic services, and in association with the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases he introduced a new conception of the value and limitations of surgery in arthritis. In time he became senior orthopaedic surgeon to the Bath Group of Hospitals, an appointment which he held until his death. He had been a notable athlete at school and retained a keen interest in sport. He was a first-class shot, a good fisherman and an enthusiastic golfer, and was to be seen at Lord's whenever the Australian cricket team was there. Bastow was a wise councellor and natural leader, who built up and maintained a corporate spirit among the consultants in Bath. In March 1964 Bastow was seriously injured at home by an accidental gunshot wound. He never fully recovered, and died in hospital on 1 January 1965, survived by his wife. A memorial service was held in Bath Abbey. Publications: Some orthopaedic procedures employed in treatment of arthritis. *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1941, 35, 80. Indications for joint manipulation. *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1948, 41, 615. The surgery of rheumatic disease. *Postgrad med J* 1955, 31, 635.