Alexander Reading was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at Spire South Bank Hospital, Worcester, Alexandra Hospital, Redditch, and the joint clinic in Droitwich. He studied medicine in Glasgow, qualifying MB ChB in 1990. He gained his FRCS in 1994. He was a specialist registrar in orthopaedic surgery in the west of Scotland, and then held a clinical research fellowship in Leicester. In 2002 he was appointed to his consultant post. He specialised in hip and knee replacement surgery, and published papers on hip replacement, particularly on the prevention of infection. He was a member of the British Orthopaedic Association, the British Orthopaedic Research Society and the British Hip Society. In his spare time he was an assistant coach for a boys' football team, and played cricket, tennis and golf. Alexander Reading committed suicide on 15 June 2011, aged 45. He was survived by his wife Sarah, a former nurse, and sons Jonny and Wils.