John Barnard Blaikley was born in Finchley on 21 September 1906. His father was a banker and Michael Faraday was his great grand-uncle. He was educated at Christ's College, Finchley, and Guy's Hospital, where he qualified in 1928, taking the FRCS in 1931, the MRCOG in 1933, and the FRCOG in 1944. After a series of resident appointments at Guy's he was appointed first as pathologist and later surgeon at the Chelsea Hospital for Women. He joined the staff at Guy's in 1941 and in 1944 became gynaecological surgeon to the Royal Marsden Hospital. In 1946 he was appointed director of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Guy's and was medical superintendent from 1958 to 1966. He was consultant to Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital from 1954 to 1971 and to the Army in 1969-71. He was elected to the Council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1953 and was Vice-President from 1964 to 1967. He was appointed CBE in 1967. As an obstetrician and gynaecologist John Blaikley was the complete all-rounder. When he was a registrar he was concerned about the resuscitation of apnoeic newborn babies. With his Guy's colleague, G F Gibberd (qv), he designed the Gibberd-Blaikley bag for holding a supply of oxygen which was administered into the baby's trachea through a catheter. John Blaikley became expert at passing the catheter blind through the tiny larynx by touch, using the tip of his finger to guide it. Early on in his career he was responsible for histology at the Chelsea Hospital for Women and he kept up his interest in pathology in later years. He was a skilled obstetric manipulator and a first-class operating surgeon, excelling in cancer surgery. On his arrival as exchange professor at the Johns Hopkins Hospital he was ushered into a crowded pathological conference just after the great Emil Novak had revealed the diagnosis of a baffling histology slide. The English visitor was asked for his opinion, and to the surprise of the audience he made the diagnosis without hesitation and explained why. When a day or two later, he performed a very skilful Wertheim operation they realised they had a most unusual person among them. For many years he conducted the combined cancer clinic at the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Chelsea Hospital for Women. His knowledge of pelvic cancer was extensive, and his opinion was constantly sought by his colleagues. He served with H L Kottmeier and Joe Meigs on the International Committee for the Staging of Cervical Cancer. His friendship with Sir Arthur Sims and Mr and Mrs Black led to the founding of the Sims-Black Travelling Professorship in 1952, and he himself visited Australia and New Zealand and Hong Kong in 1958 with his wife Vivien. He was a popular examiner and visited Birmingham, Bristol, London and Oxford. In 1964 he served as President of the Section of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Royal Society of Medicine. He held an equally high reputation in the USA being an Honorary Fellow of the American Gynecological Club and the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, before whom he delivered the Joseph Price Oration in 1964. He died on 21 October 1975 aged 69 years.