Roger Brereton was born on 31 March 1943 in Crewe, where his father was an electrical instrument maker for the railways. After local schooling he went up to Liverpool University Medical School where he graduated in 1966. His inclinations were at first towards obstetrics, taking the DRCOG, and it was during this time that he met Ruth, one of the midwives, whom he was later to marry. Turning to surgery he first took the FRCS Edinburgh in 1972 but followed it by the FRCS England in 1973. At the Alder Hey Childrens' Hospital he became senior registrar and acquired a wide experience of paediatric surgery. He then moved south to be senior lecturer in the professorial unit in the Institute of Child Health (University of London) and honorary surgeon to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. There he became famous for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the literature of his subject; he published on a variety of topics but did not follow any consistent line of research. In 1993 he was appointed consultant paediatric surgeon to the newly-opened Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, but unhappily was soon afterwards diagnosed as having carcinoma of the colon. He met his illness with outstanding courage, returning to work after the primary excision and then again after resection of liver secondaries. In his spare time he enjoyed gardening, model making and icing cakes. He died on 28 February 1995, survived by his wife, and sons Simon, Richard and James.