Alison George Selborne Bailey, known as 'Joe', was larger than life. He was born on 19 July 1915, the son of George Frederick Selborne Bailey, a general practitioner and Mabel Yardley Guard, a midwife. He was educated at Radley, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he spent much of his time rowing. He was captain of boats at both institutions. He went to St Bartholomew's for his clinical training, where he was considerably influenced by James Paterson Ross, Harold Wilson, Geoffrey Keynes and later by Harold Gillies and Archibald McIndoe. It was while he was a student at Bart's that he developed Crohn's disease, and was successfully operated on by Michael Harmer - the story of which was amusingly recounted in the *Lancet* in 1986. He followed his father into general practice. He occasionally made his rounds on horseback, and became famous for his skill in manipulation. He continued to coach crews from Radley, Cambridge and Oxford. He was honorary medical officer to the Royal Windsor Racecourse for more than 20 years, as well as several local hunts. His Rolls was always parked under the same oak tree at Henley. He married Christine Marguerite Delfosse, a trainee architect, in 1947. They had four children, Alison, Margaret, George and William. A gourmet, wit, enthusiast and good companion, he was co-opted to the Council in 1986 and made FRCS by election in 1988. He died on 8 November 1997.