Ian Hill was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. He was born on 8 June 1919. When he was only five he developed diphtheria and was admitted to an isolation hospital for many weeks. There he was allowed no visits from his family and witnessed at close quarters th

Thomas Holmes Sellors, the only son of Dr Thomas Blanchard Sellors, a general practitioner and of Anne Oliver Sellors (née McSparron) was born on 7 April 1902, at Wandsworth. A few years later his father moved his practice to Southend-on-Sea and Tom, as he was always known, went to Alleyn Court Prep

Tony Dyde was a cardiothoracic surgeon at Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry. He was born in Plymouth on 30 May 1935, the son of John Horsfall Dyde, chairman of the Eastern Gas Board, and Ethel May Hewitt, and was educated at Rugby, where he excelled at cricket, hockey and rugby football. He then went up

Percy Jewsbury was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital. He was born in 12 March 1920 in Manchester, the son of Sydney Shardlow Jewsbury, a heating and ventilation engineer, and Hannah Harrison Alder, a district nurse. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School an

Rowan Nicks was a cardiothoracic surgeon in Sydney, who in later life became one of the most well-known and admired surgeons in Australia, noted especially for his work in promoting the training of surgeons in developing countries. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 24 February 1913 to George

Aluvangal Pulparambil Chandrasekharan was a cardiothoracic surgeon in the department of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, Pushpagiri Medical College, Kerala, India. He died on 20 June 2011, aged just 54, after sustaining a head injury in a traffic accident three days earlier. He was survived by h

Gerson Katz was a cardiothoracic surgeon in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was born in Johannesburg and studied medicine at Witwatersrand University. After qualifying he completed junior posts in Durban at King Edward VIII Hospital. He then went to the UK, to specialise in surgery. He was a house

Andrew Drain was a cardiothoracic surgeon who was born in Northern Ireland on 9 June 1974. In 2006 he worked in the department of cardiothoracic surgery at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge. He was working at a prestigious New York hospital and about to return to the UK as a consultant when he was diagno

Alan Mearns was a cardiothoracic surgeon in Bradford. He studied medicine in Liverpool, qualifying MB ChB in 1963, and continued his surgical training in the city, passing his FRCS Edinburgh in 1969 and his FRCS in 1970. After a post as a senior registrar in cardiothoracic surgery at Killingbeck Hos

John Weaver was a cardiothoracic surgeon at the London Hospital. He was born on 7 November 1921 in Wolverhampton and educated at Clifton College, where he boxed for the school. He went on to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and then St Thomas’s Hospital. After house jobs, he was a casualty o

Leon Abrams was a cardiothoracic surgeon who developed the first variable-rate heart pacemaker. He was born in Leeds, but his family soon moved to Birmingham, where he spent most of his life, apart from a short period of National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After medical school in Bi

Mathias Paneth was a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Brompton Hospital, London. He was born in Amsterdam in 1921, the son of a doctor who subsequently worked as a surgeon in Sumatra, where he developed a special interest in tuberculosis surgery. Matt was educated at Gordonstoun and Christ Church, Oxfo