Frank Dorrens Johnston was born in West Hartlepool, County Durham, on 29 December 1927, the son of John Dorrens Johnston, a general practitioner, and his wife Dorothy (née Patrick). His early education was at Edinburgh Academy and Trent College before going to the University of Edinburgh for his medical studies. He qualified in 1950 and then became house surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and house physician at Leicester General Hospital. Within three years of qualification he had passed the Edinburgh Fellowship and then served as resident surgical officer at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, under Douglas Robertson from 1956 to 1958. After leaving Sheffield he worked in Western Canada for five years, but returned as senior registrar in orthopaedics in 1963. Two years later he passed the FRCS and in 1967 was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to Pontefract Hospital Group. He had a special interest in joint replacement and apart from his professional commitment farmed 600 acres of land in North Yorkshire, looking after sheep and also breeding horses. He was keen on riding and a member of a local hunt. In 1960 he married Barbara Braithwaite and there were four sons and one daughter of the marriage. He died aged 60 in 1988 of a lung cancer and is survived by his wife and five children.