Bob Johnson was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the Wirral. He was born in Manchester in 1941, and studied medicine at Manchester University, where his training rotation took him to Wrightington in 1974, where John Charnley had pioneered the low friction arthroplasty of the hip. His enthusiasm impressed Charnley and together they published several papers. His main interest lay with knees and, with Martin Elloy of C F Thackerays, he developed one of the earliest meniscal knee replacements. In 1993, he established a knee clinic and gave up his NHS appointment to concentrate on this subject. Unknown to all but his family he had insulin dependent diabetes for 27 years and suffered a cerebrovascular accident in 1995. He married Dorothy ('Dee') and they had a son and daughter. He died on 22 July 1998.