Ken Harrison was born in Manchester on 3 August 1913 and subsequently studied medicine at Manchester University. He qualified in 1938 and became house surgeon to Sir Harry Platt, with whom he kept in close touch until Sir Harry's 100th birthday. He served in the RAF from 1941 to 1946, mainly in the Middle East, and after the war was appointed senior registrar to the ENT department at Manchester Royal Infirmary. In 1950 he was travelling fellow at the Lempert Institute of Otology in New York, and he was subsequently appointed consultant ENT surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary and the Christie Hospital. He was director of the department of otolaryngology at the University of Manchester from 1963 until his retirement in 1978. He was also consultant otologist to the Royal Schools for the Deaf in Manchester, and together with Sir Alexander and Lady Irene Ewing he helped to pioneer the education of deaf children. He was appointed Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1955, and later became a member of the Court of Examiners. He was awarded the BMA Jobson Horne Prize in 1974 and at various times served as President of the North of England Otolaryngological Society, the Section of Laryngology of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Visiting Association of Throat and Ear Surgeons of Great Britain. Ken Harrison was a keen sportsman with a particular interest in Manchester United Soccer Club, and was close friends with Sir Matt Busby. Sadly, his activities were curtailed in his latter years by hypertension and a stroke, and he died on 1 July 1991, aged 77. He was survived by his wife, Joan, and their three sons, one of whom, Richard, became a consultant anaesthetist at Manchester Royal Infirmary.