Brian Maurice was a consultant general surgeon at Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells. He was born on 28 July 1927 in Sutton, Macclesfield, Cheshire, the elder son of Norman B Maurice, a chemist who carried out pioneering research into synthetic nylon, and his wife Dorothy (née Armstead), wh

Edward Hitchcock ('Ted') was born in Wales at Rhymney, Monmouthshire, on 10 February 1929, the son of Edwin Robert Hitchcock and Martha Mary, née Roberts. The family soon moved to Staffordshire, where his father worked as a coal miner. Ted soon discovered Cannock Chase, which was to provide a steady

Ivan Johnston was professor of surgery at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and made major contributions to endocrine surgery. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 4 October 1929, the son of David Johnston, a company secretary, and Mary née Clarke, and was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institut