John Shennan was a consultant general surgeon for Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust. He was born in West Kirby on the Wirral on 28 July 1939, the son of William Millward Shennan, an architect from a family of architects who designed many of Liverpool's iconic buildings, and Pamela Mary Shennan née White, who studied art. He had a sister, Anne. John attended a local preparatory school and then King William's College on the Isle of Man, where he excelled as a scholar and sportsman, winning the *victor ludorum* (the school's highest sporting achievement). He competed in the long jump at the National Schools' Championship at White City, London and was a keen rugby player and a Cheshire Schoolboys' trialist. He was also a Queen's Scout and an assistant scoutmaster. From 1958, he studied medicine at Liverpool University, qualifying in 1963 with the J Hill Abram prize in medicine and the Sir Robert Kelly gold medal in surgery. During these years, he kept up his rugby, playing for the Liverpool University side until advised by his tutors that if he wanted to be a surgeon he needed to quit as he was breaking too many fingers. He kept in touch with many of his year at university via the reunions. His first consultancy appointment was in 1974 at Whiston and St Helens hospitals. He then moved to the Birkenhead and Wallasey Group of Hospitals from 1975 to 1982. Arrowe Park Hospital replaced these groups and the Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust was formed in 1991. He had a subspecialist interest in breast surgery and was instrumental in setting up one of the first triple assessment diagnostic clinics for breast cancer in the area. He contributed several papers to journals, including 'Twelfth rib syndrome: a differential diagnosis of loin pain' *Br Med J (Clin Res Ed)*. 1983 Aug 27;287(6392):586 and 'Surgical treatment of the 'slipping rib syndrome'' *Br J Surg.* 1984 Jul;71(7):522-3. John played his part in hospital management, serving as clinical director of surgical services and as a member of the council of Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust. He was an honorary clinical lecturer in surgery for Liverpool University and during his career trained many specialist registrars in surgery. Although he was an imposing figure who liked to dress in smart suits, flamboyant shirts and ties, and was not known for suffering fools gladly, he was (judging by the many letters of condolence) loved by his patients for his kind, patient and professional bedside manner. Whilst on holiday in Salt Lake City, Utah, he witnessed a laparoscopic gall bladder operation. This fascinated him, and he made it his mission to train in the procedure by attending courses in Edinburgh, Dublin, Hamburg, Liège and Yorkshire. The first laparoscopic centre in the North West was set up at Arrowe Park Hospital, and John, who loved his cars, had a Bentley with the registration plate A1 LAP, more to annoy his colleagues than anything else as he had a puckish sense of humour. He retired from NHS practice in 2001, continuing in private practice until 2011. John had a lifelong interest in golf, playing off scratch in his younger days. He was captain of Caldy Golf Club on the Wirral in 1979 and a member of Royal Liverpool Golf Club from 1988, where, with his second wife Pam, he spent many happy and frustrating times on the links. They both had an interest in antiques, and together travelled throughout the country to antique fairs. He was married twice. He had three children with his first wife, Hazel (née Blease) - Phillipa, Victoria and Timothy. Divorced in 1991, he went on to marry Pam (née Cookson). John died from a large cerebellar stroke on 7 March 2018 whilst on holiday in Iceland. He was 78.