Alan Hardy was born in Sheffield on 3 August 1915. His father, Thomas Arthur, was a cutlery manufacturer and his mother was Florence Mildred, née Brumby. He was educated at Birkdale Prep School, Sheffield, and Rydal School, Colwyn Bay, and at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he obtained the Oxford and Cambridge Scholarship to the Middlesex Hospital. He was house surgeon to Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor and held posts at the Royal Masonic Hospital and in Sheffield. His eventual appointment was as consultant in charge of the spinal injuries unit at Lodge Moor Hospital, Sheffield. He wrote and lectured on these injuries, their complications and rehabilitation in Britain and the USA under the auspices of the British Orthopaedic Association, the British Council and the British Postgraduate Association. On 14 May 1941 he married Vera Mary Hall. They had two children - Susan Margaret (a secretary) and Brian John, who graduated BSc and worked as a supply and logistics manager for Zeneca Agrochemicals. Alan enjoyed cricket and rugby, but golf was his main hobby for fifty years, and he became captain of his club. He served in the RAF from 1943 to 1946, with the rank of acting squadron leader, in Britain and Europe. He died on 18 April 1996, survived by his wife and family.