Peter Canty was a consultant otolaryngologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary. He was born in Cork, Eire, on 27 July 1942. His father, Patrick, was a banker with the Allied Irish Bank and his mother May studied commerce. When Peter was 11 years old, the family moved to Schull in West Cork, and this was to be the start of Peter's love of the place. After schooling at Castleknock College, he decided on a career in medicine, and matriculated at University College Cork in 1966. He was greatly influenced by his aunt, Ina O'Connor, an ophthalmologist in Cork, and one of the first female surgeons in Ireland. Peter lived with her as a student and she kept (appropriately) a watchful eye on his academic and social activities. He decided on ENT as a career whilst working in the anatomy department and it was at this time that he made another life-changing decision: he became engaged to Mary Conroy, who was on the staff of the French department. They were married in 1970. Peter was accepted on to the registrar training scheme in Manchester. He was very much influenced by Kenneth Harrison, the head of the department at Manchester Royal Infirmary, with whom he shared a passionate devotion to the fortunes of Manchester United. During this time, he won the George Seed prize awarded by the North of England Otolaryngology Society for work he had done on audiometric testing in acoustic tumours. Peter was appointed to the staff of Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1979 following the retirement of Ken Harrison, and found himself one of three young consultants, an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scot, a fact that appealed to his well-developed sense of humour. Peter was a general otolaryngologist. He had a particular interest in the deafness of childhood and specifically in otitis media with effusion. Nasal allergy was another interest on which he contributed to the literature and he was a founder member of the International Foundation for Infectious Diseases, Immunology and Allergology in Otorhinolaryngology. He tolerated but did not enjoy administration ('a necessary evil') and could be a tough and dogmatic adversary in committee. His intransigence in negotiation with 'management' made him a highly effective clinical director at a time when the department of otolaryngology was undergoing rapid expansion. He served as an examiner for the old diploma of laryngology and otology of the Royal College of Surgeons, for Irish undergraduate examinations and for the final MB ChB examinations at Manchester University. Peter's greatest assets were his effortless charm and the ease with which he communicated with his patients, young and old. He just liked people. He was a delight to be with, a compulsive if at times somewhat discursive raconteur, with a self-deprecating sense of humour. Although he loved many aspects of life in Manchester, the fortunes of Sale Rugby and Manchester United in particular, he remained Irish to his roots. He loved his house in Schull, where he holidayed every year, he loved the craic and, in particular, he loved the rugby. He was devoted to the fortunes of the Irish national team, but even more so to Munster, whose victory over the All Blacks in 1978 was a recurrent theme in any late-night meeting, usually recalled with a pint of pure Liffey water in his hand. Peter retired from the NHS in 1998, but carried on with his private practice until 2006. He was intensely proud of his family, Mary and the boys - Stephen, an orthopaedic surgeon in Preston, and Edward, a sports lawyer - and of his grandchildren. In retirement he enjoyed walking with friends and became a compulsive devourer of crime novels. He was diagnosed with gastro-oesophageal carcinoma and tolerated major surgery and courses of chemotherapy with enormous fortitude. He died on 7 June 2014, aged 72, and his remains were returned to Schull, where he is buried overlooking his favourite place in the world.