Born on 14 August 1921 at Northampton; his father was a leather factor, but his great-uncle Henry Briggs FRCS, was the first Professor of Midwifery in the University of Liverpool, and his mother's brother Hugh Reid FRCS, was surgeon to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. James's younger brother Donald Kn

Philip Kerr was born on 22 February 1921, the son of Dugald Kerr, a Scottish civil engineer, and Charlotte Annie, née Tasker. He was educated at Oundle, where he won many prizes, and at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1943 and served as a medical officer in the RAF in Western Eu