Somnath Jaivant Gudé was a consultant ENT surgeon at Burnley General Hospital. Born in Goa on 27 September 1929, he was the son of Jaivent Ganesh Gudé, a postmaster, and his wife Laxmibai Naik. In Goa he attended Liceu Nacional Panjim and the Popular High School Margao before moving to Wilson College, Bombay. He studied medicine at Bombay University and Grant Medical College where he won prizes in anatomy and surgery (coming first in the university in the latter) and qualified MB BS in 1957. After house jobs at the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital in Bombay he travelled to the UK. From 1959 to 1961 he worked at Mansfield General Hospital in Nottinghamshire and then moved to Salford Royal Hospital for two years. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1961. Returning to India in 1963 he became a lecturer in surgery at the Goa Medical College and stayed there until 1966. The following year he became a consultant at the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital in Liverpool and stayed there until 1970 when he took up the post of ENT consultant at Burnley General Hospital. He was a patron of the East Lancashire Tinnitus Association from 1975 until he retired in 1994. In October 1966 he married Jean Hilda neé Kirk and they had two daughters, Anita who became a solicitor and Sheila who was a teacher. Jean died in June 1988 and in May 1991 he married Margaret Wilkinson. When young he had been a keen sportsman representing his college and medical school in cricket, football and table tennis. Later he enjoyed playing golf. He died on 5 July 2013 aged 83.