Born in Stockport, Cheshire, in 1905, Arthur Noel Birkett was educated at Stockport Grammar School and Manchester University where he graduated MB ChB in 1930. He held resident posts at Manchester Royal Infirmary and he demonstrated anatomy in the department of Professor J S B Stopford. He then became house surgeon at the National Orthopaedic Hospital for two years, obtaining the FRCS Diploma in 1936. He was appointed resident orthopaedic registrar to the General Hospital, Nottingham in 1937 and in 1946 he became the first honorary orthopaedic surgeon there, and to the City Hospital, the Children's and Ilkeston Hospitals. In addition to his orthopaedic commitments, he was responsible for a busy accident department at the General Hospital. He built up a large practice and because he was devoted to the care of his patients, he found it difficult to be punctual on occasion. On arriving late at the operating theatre one day an irate anaesthetist told him that he had taken a message and gave Birkett a number to ring. On dialling that number, he heard "at the third stroke, it will be..."! He was Chairman of the General Hospital Committee and a member of the Nottingham Medical Appeals Tribunal. In 1939, he married Mary, whom he first met when she was theatre sister at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. They had two daughters and a son who is now Associate Professor of Surgery at Boston, Massachusetts. He died suddenly, whilst hoeing his beloved roses, on 12 September 1985, survived by his wife, daughters, son and seven grandchildren.