Pundalika Shenoi was born on 28 September 1933 in Mangalore, Southern India, into a family of numerous medical men, although his father, Gopal Krishna Shenoi, was a merchant. His early education was in the University of Madras and Andrha Medical College, where he gained the MB degree with three gold medals. Coming to England, he took the course in Birmingham and qualified with the MB there in 1956. After his house posts he joined the surgical unit in that city under Professor Geoffrey Slaney, at first working on the metabolic consequences of major surgery while at the same time pursuing an interest in the treatment of pharyngeal cancer. During this period he took firstly the Edinburgh FRCS and then the College Fellowship. Turning his attention to otolaryngology he visited, and learnt from, many centres in Germany, Belgium and Sweden before becoming senior registrar at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Finally he returned to Birmingham as consultant ENT surgeon but continued his research interests. He was an active member of the Otolaryngological Research Society and a few days before his death he was elected an Honorary Member of the Section of Otology at the Royal Society of Medicine. He married Anne Clifford in 1961 and they had five daughters and a son. He was keen on tennis and cricket. When he died suddenly on 11 February 1991, he was survived by his wife and family.