Born in 1940 in Hove, Sussex, the son of a general practitioner, George Nigel Boobbyer was educated at Prestonville, Brighton, and Haileybury. He read medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, graduating MB BS London, in 1964 and gaining the Conjoint Diploma in that year. He was house surgeon in the professorial surgical unit at St Mary's and house physician at Kingston Hospital before becoming casualty officer at St Thomas's Hospital. In 1971, he went, with his wife and two young daughters, to Ndola in Zambia, where he took part in the flying doctor service and operated in mission hospitals and clinics in remote areas. He returned to a senior house officer post at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, becoming FRCS England in 1972, having gained the Edinburgh Fellowship before he went to Africa. There followed a training period as senior orthopaedic registrar in the Guy's/Lewisham/East Sussex hospital rotation scheme before his consultant appointment to Lewisham and Sydenham Children's Hospitals in 1980. He was chairman of the division of surgery at Lewisham and he served on a number of other hospital committees. An active member of his local church, he found time to collect old books, watercolours and antiques, and he was a keen gardener at his home at Westerham. He died in a car accident on 4 November 1984, survived by his wife, Marie-Louise, and his daughters, Claire and Bega.