Ian Middleton was born in Troon, Ayrshire, on 20 October 1922. His father, John, was a medical practitioner and his mother was Emily, née Middleton. He went to school at Hymer's College, Hull, and then went on to the University of Aberdeen, having obtained first place in the medical bursary competition of 1939. Following qualification in 1944 he served in the RAMC in Egypt and Palestine from 1945 to 1948. He became a Fellow of the College in 1952 and specialised in cardiothoracic surgery. He was appointed a consultant in cardiothoracic surgery with the Liverpool Regional Hospital Board in 1959 and was based on the unit at Broadgreen Hospital, although he held appointments in other outlying hospitals in Merseyside and North Wales. In 1955 he married Ceinwen Evans, by whom he had three children - two daughters, Anne and Margaret - and a son, John. As had his grandfather, John, his own father and his uncle James, John qualified in medicine from Aberdeen University. He married Ruth Cheyne, also a medical graduate from Aberdeen. Ian died after a long illness on 24 May 1995.