William O'Flynn was born in County Limerick on 12 April 1927, into a family with a long tradition in medicine as general practitioners. Unfortunately no details of his forbears are available. After education at Presentation College, Bray, County Wicklow he entered the National University of Ireland

Ralph Ronald Kendrick was born on 3 April 1915 in Camberwell, London, the only son of Samuel and Eleanor Kendrick. He was educated at Dulwich College and received his medical education at King's College Hospital, London, where, following graduation, he became house surgeon to Sir Cecil Wakeley. He t

Robert Shannon was born on 10 May 1928 in Brisbane, Australia, the son of Reuben Samuel Shannon, a company manager, and Muriel Adeline, née Bone. He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and Queensland University where he graduated MB BS in 1950, proceeded to the MS in 1955 and gained the Fellowsh

Selim Mellick, universally known as Sam, was a legendary surgeon. He was born in Innisfail in north Queensland and was Dux of both his local primary school and his high school the All Souls School in Charters Towers. He graduated from the University of Queensland with first class honours in medic

Lynne Wilford Baker was head of the department of surgery at the University of Natal Medical School, South Africa. He was born on 28 June 1928 in Potchefstroom, Transvaal, the first child of Lynne Wilford Borrius Baker, a bank clerk, and Fredericka Wilhelmina Baker née Tom, the daughter of a ‘landro

David Pryce Goodwin was a consultant in general and vascular surgery at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading and a consultant at Newbury District Hospital. He was born in Larkfield, Kent on 10 May 1936. His father, Geoffrey Pryce Goodwin, had qualified at St Mary’s Hospital, London in the 1930s and

Trevor Pickering was a consultant surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, a member of Australia’s first successful transplant team and president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA). He was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the only child of Hilda Hale Bleckly and

Mohankumar Adiseshiah, known by all as ‘Mo’, was a consultant vascular surgeon at the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was born in Madras, India on 20 May 1941. His father, Malcolm Adiseshiah, was an internationally-renowned UNESCO educationalist. His mother, Helen née Pa

Ramesh Nigam was founder professor and head of the department of surgery at the Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, India, and a distinguished vascular surgeon. Born on 12 August 1920, his father had served in the Indian Medical Service, and then became professor of surgery at the King George's Med

David Evans was a much admired general and vascular surgeon in Shrewsbury who became well known nationally in the latter part of his career for being in the forefront of hernia repair by minimal access surgery. He performed more than 2,600 such operations, giving a Hunterian lecture on his experienc

Mike Solan was born in Eltham, London, on 31 January 1932. His father, Michael, was a Bank of England official and his mother was Doris Winifred Gladys Rogers, a Librarian. He was educated at Douai Abbey School, Berkshire, and at Woolwich Polytechnic and he attended St Thomas's Hospital Medical Scho

Colin Skelton was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 31 March 1935 and educated at Christchurch West High School and Otago Medical School. After house appointments at Christchurch Hospital and Grey Hospital, Greymouth, he became surgical registrar at Christchurch Hospital and then came to England