Randolph Gilbert Beard, known as 'Randy', was the consultant surgeon in charge of the rectal department at Guy's Hospital, London. He was born on 13 August 1926 in Aldershot, Hampshire, the son of Randolph Beard, a major in the Grenadier Guards. Randy's demeanour reflected this background in no small measure: he looked like a military man and was hugely proud of his father's achievements. His mother, Fanny Louise Beard née Bailey, was a secretary. Randy was educated at Epsom College, where he was a prefect and won two prestigious prizes. From there, he went to Clare College, Cambridge, and qualified MB BChir from Guy's in 1950. He proceeded to the FRCS in 1956 and gained his MChir in 1958. From 1951 to 1956, he was a junior surgical specialist in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in the Canal Zone in Egypt between 1953 and 1955. He returned to Guy's, where his surgical mentors were Sam Wass and Grant Massie (whom he succeeded). He obviously much admired and was a friend of both men, and his surgical technique and speed of operating stemmed from their tutelage. He also excelled in his teaching of medical students, treating them with great kindness and tolerance at times. He was a keen anatomist and insisted that his students excelled in this area. He was not a committee man. He was also on the staff of St Olave's Hospital and was an honorary consultant surgeon at St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy. I was seconded from the Army to his unit at Guy's Hospital in 1978 as a senior registrar to him and Red O'Flynn on Luke and Dorcas wards for a year. It was a very happy unit with huge loyalty from all the staff, particularly the nurses, who were universally outstanding. His very military bearing impressed all of his staff, particularly me. He was notorious for the economy of his movements whilst operating. If anyone is a true surgical master, he exemplified this perfectly. I assisted him in a private oesophagogastrectomy, which took just one hour 15 minutes, with an outstanding outcome. Shortly afterwards, I was doing the bottom end of an abdomino-perineal resection. Within what seemed like seconds, he was in the pelvis with a pair of Lloyd Davies or Goligher scissors, the tips of which I was then asked to feel front and back, where he opened them, establishing a virtually avascular plane. Perhaps I should add that the patient was 18 stones. Very shortly afterwards, he delivered the specimen to me. I closed up and rose to see how he was getting on as he put the last stitch into the colostomy. The total operating time was less than one hour. These are just two examples of his technical mastery. He spoke regularly of his 'club', which I later came to realise was the Travelling Surgical Club of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (later a society and including all of Ireland). He was obviously a highly respected member. He married Mary Davies Hockey, a Guy's nurse, in 1951. They had four sons and a daughter. He lived in north London, before moving on retirement to Petersfield in Hampshire and later to Herefordshire. Randy Beard died on 31 October 2015 in Leominster, Herefordshire. He was 89.