Noel Vivian Morgan was born in Griffiths Town, Monmouthshire, on 4 December 1924, the son of Albert Morgan, an accountant with the Great Western Railway. His early education was at West Monmouth Grammar School and he subsequently entered St Catherine's College, Oxford, for his pre-clinical work. His clinical studies were at the Radcliffe Infirmary and he qualified in 1955, afterwards being appointed house physician and ear, nose and throat house surgeon at his teaching hospital. He was later casualty officer at Aylesbury and registrar in the plastic surgery and jaw unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. At about 35 years of age he decided to specialise in ear, nose and throat surgery and he was appointed registrar at Bristol Royal Infirmary. He passed the DLO in 1963 and the FRCS two years later. He was the senior lecturer at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton. He had a special interest in the treatment of acoustic neuromas and started an otoneurology clinic at Southampton University Hospitals where he was consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon. He married Mary Furse, a qualified nurse on 21 July 1956 and they had two daughters, Stephanie and Penny, and a son Timothy, who entered Southampton University Medical School and is due to qualify in December 1992. His outside interests were in gardening and photography and he was an enthusiastic radio ham. Unfortunately he developed a lung cancer from which he died on 29 November 1985 aged 60, survived by his wife and children.