Peter Timmis was appointed consultant ENT surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, West Herts Hospital, and Hemel Hempstead and Hitchen Hospital in 1960. He was born on 30 September 1922 to Colin Timmis, a mechanical engineer, and Sarah Ellen Timmis née Pyatt, and was educated at Chesham Preparatory School and Berkhamsted School. He was the first of his family to read medicine and trained at St Bartholomew's Medical College, qualifying MB BS in 1948. After surgical house jobs at St Bartholomew's Hospital with the general surgeon Geoffrey Keynes and the ENT surgeon Freddie Capps, Timmis had already elected to become an ENT surgeon. In December 1947 he was called up for service in the RAF and spent two years at the Central Medical Establishment in London as an ENT specialist under the supervision of Air Commodore E D Dickson. With this experience, he was well placed to become a registrar and later a senior registrar at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London, and St Bartholomew's Hospital. Here he was re-united with Freddie Capps, who was his mentor and a very able and colourful surgeon. Timmis took over Capps' appointments at Luton and Dunstable Hospital on his retirement. This was a busy job with a one in two rota. He succeeded in building a high quality department and trained many visiting surgeons from around the world. Following retirement in 1987, Timmis enjoyed golf and bridge, and in his 80s was marching in London against the Iraq war. The garden was his main enthusiasm; he was a regular exhibitor at the local horticultural event, a magnificent cucumber winning 'best in show' only three months before his death from colon cancer on 15 December 2010, aged 88. He was survived by his wife Kathreen née Brierley, a Bart's nurse, and their three children, Jane, who also became a Bart's nurse, Adam, who is professor of cardiology at Bart's and the Royal London hospitals, and Ben, who was a consultant radiologist at the Whittington Hospital, London, and seven grandchildren.