John Richard Stares Blake (known as Richard) was a consultant surgeon at King's Mill Centre for Health Care Services, Sutton-in-Ashfield. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood, north London, and then went on to study medicine at Middlesex Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1966. He held house posts at Middlesex Hospital and subsequently worked in hospitals in north London. He initially decided to become a pathologist and held a two-year appointment as a demonstrator of pathology at Bristol University. He later switched to surgery and he joined a surgical rotation with the Bristol hospitals. He became a surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Boscombe, and then held surgical posts in the Birmingham area. In 1977, he was appointed as a lecturer and honorary senior registrar at the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, where he developed his interest in the management of breast disease while working with Roger Blamey. In 1984, he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at the Mansfield, District General and King's Mill hospitals. He introduced several innovations at Mansfield, including the use of stapling devices, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. He also developed a special interest in the management of elderly patients, particularly in relation to abdominal surgery. After a period of time, he focused solely on breast surgery. Outside medicine, he made furniture to a high standard. Richard Blake died at this home on 23 August 2013. He was 70. He was survived by his wife Linda, two daughters (Sarah and Rachel) and two grandsons (William and Frederick).