Michael John Hunter was born in Liverpool on 12 April 1935, the son of Oliver Arnold Hunter, an executive director of Woolworth's, and his early education was at St George's College, Weybridge. He then entered Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1960. His early appointments were as house surgeon, senior house officer in the casualty department and later obstetric officer at Charing Cross Hospital. He decided to pursue a career in surgery and was appointed surgical registrar at Ashford Hospital, Middlesex. Having passed the FRCS he was senior registrar in orthopaedics at the Middlesex Hospital and during this time he undertook special training in hand surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. In 1974 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to Basingstoke Hospital and to the Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital, Alton. He had a special interest in shoulder joint repairs and hand surgery and was one of the first to introduce arthroscopy. During the time he was on the staff an attempt was made by the Department of Health to close Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital but he and his colleagues opposed this suggestion strongly and succeeded in their objective. Apart from his professional duties he enjoyed tennis and squash until shortly before his final illness from widespread malignancy. He married Inge Marchen in 1968. He died on 8 October 1988, aged 53, survived by his wife and their three sons, Nicholas, Jeremy and Svend.