John Fixsen was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London; by the time of his retirement he was unsurpassed as a children's orthopaedic surgeon in the UK and in great demand as a teacher, lecturer and surgeon worldwide. John was brought up in Altrincham and excelled at Manchester Grammar School. After gaining an open scholarship to Cambridge to read classics, he decided he wanted to pursue a medical career. He joined the sixth form biology class and, having studied no science after his second year at the school, with one year's study obtained an open scholarship to Cambridge in biology. After leaving school he carried out his National Service and was commissioned into the Royal Navy, where he learned Russian and worked as an interpreter. In 1955 he went up to Cambridge to read medicine, going to the Middlesex Hospital for clinical studies and qualifying in 1962. During his house jobs there he came under the influence of Philip Newman in particular and settled on a career in orthopaedics. He trained at the Middlesex and on the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital circuit, gaining his FRCS and MChir on the way. In 1969 he was appointed as a consultant at St Bartholomew's Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, Hackney. Following a reorganisation, the latter became part of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and John served there with distinction for the rest of his career, virtually single-handed for many years. He was also a civilian consultant to the Army, Navy and RAF, and visiting consultant to Chailey Heritage, St Margaret's, Tadworth, and St Bernard's, Gibraltar. As his practice grew, so did his reputation as a surgeon, teacher and mentor. In his clinics the children referred to him as 'Mr Fixit' and he took on the most complex cases across the whole spectrum of children's orthopaedics, apart from spinal surgery. This gave great support to not only the children and their families, but also the surgeons who referred cases from far and wide. Even if a case had gone badly wrong for the referring doctor, John's letters were supportive and never critical of previous management. In the operating theatre he was a methodical and consistent surgeon with phrases and tricks to accompany each stage of the operation. These were well remembered by his trainees, who in turn could pass them to the next generation; a true example of apprenticeship. Apart from his clinical and surgical abilities, he published widely in books and journals and gave countless presentations and invited lectures nationally and internationally, including the Robert Jones lecture in 1994. He also served the British Society for Children's Orthopaedic Surgery and the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society with distinction. His international reputation was cemented as a member of the International Pediatric Orthopaedic Think Tank. He was a voracious reader with an encyclopaedic memory and his knowledge of the orthopaedic literature was one of his hallmarks as a teacher and participant in clinical conferences. He was a long-term examiner for the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and later the intercollegiate orthopaedic fellowship. He also gave sterling service to the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* as a career-long reviewer, editorial secretary of the British Orthopaedic Association (from 1982 to 1984), board member (from 1982 to 1985) and a highly-valued associate editor and rewriter from 1997 to 2011. He retired from the NHS in 1996 but remained active as a teacher, lecturer and consultant adviser. In 2002 he was invited to Afghanistan as medical adviser to Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal, working with Afghan nationals trained by the charity as physiotherapists, orthotists and prosthetists in clinics in Kabul, Jalalabad and elsewhere. John quickly realised that little attention was being given to children who presented with untreated conditions, including congenital disorders, polio and cerebral palsy. His contributions during biannual visits over 10 years included the introduction of screening programmes for congenital clubfoot and development dysplasia of the hip and, more importantly, by identifying, helping to train and supporting the few Afghan orthopaedic surgeons who showed an interest in paediatric cases. For all his achievements during his orthopaedic career, including his work in Afghanistan, he was awarded the honorary fellowship of the British Orthopaedic Association in 2010. Outside of orthopaedics he read widely, followed the arts and music, especially ballet, and was a keen climber (latterly walker), skier and sailor. He also had a love for fast cars and was an avid follower of Formula One racing. He was endlessly generous in encouraging others to join in and enjoy these hobbies. His daughter Sarah remembers him as a modest and unassuming person: '…as children we had no real awareness of how successful he was in orthopaedics nor how competitive he was (although this became apparent when we were foolish enough to play squash with him when we were in our teens). His competitive side was driven by a need to do his best in all activities in which he participated rather than being *the* best... He was kind and compassionate - believed in treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. He rarely criticised or judged others - if people did things that seemed terrible he would always consider how he would have behaved in the same circumstances. He was in some respects unworldly and a little eccentric - he definitely was not concerned with material comforts or belongings… He seemed to live in a slightly different (and rather lovely) world doing the things he loved and "tolerating" the modern world of mobile phones, emails and computers. He was always supportive of us his children, whichever path we chose and with his grandchildren he attended pantomimes and theatre productions and genuinely enjoyed them. He never quite mastered the art of a conversation being a two-way dialogue with both parties contributing equally…. However this was only because his knowledge was so wide and diverse and he had so much to impart! In summary, he was a modest, kind, compassionate, generous, eccentric and supportive Dad - his approach to life was one we much admired and will continue to recall.' In his lifetime John Fixsen achieved so much in so many ways. He died on 11 August 2014, aged 79. He was survived by his ex-wife Judy and their three children. After his death his family found a quote from Marcus Aurelius written in his diary: 'A man's true delight is to do that which he was made for' - which John certainly did.