Alastair Gunn was a much-loved and respected consultant general surgeon at Ashington Hospital, Northumberland, and later at its replacement, Wansbeck General Hospital. He had a major interest in colorectal disease and instigated and helped establish the NHS northern region's register of familial ade

Roy Lawrence Willis Fink was born in Ballarat on 27 April 1938. His father was a state school headmaster and the family moved between various country towns, including Learmonth, Yea and Benalla, before moving to Ferntree Gully and subsequently Bentleigh. His early years were influenced by World War

Alex Brown was a consultant surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. He was born on 26 January 1919. His father, A Brown, was head of the department of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town. His mother, Mary Graham, had been the first female graduate at Rhodes Univers

John Hale was a consultant general and colorectal surgeon at Redhill in Surrey. He was born into a family of market gardeners in the Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire. He showed early academic promise and attended Prince Henry's Grammar School in Evesham, where he was head boy. He then gained a schola

Paul Cassell was a consultant general surgeon at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough. He was appointed in 1972 and retired in 1998; his time there can be seen in retrospect as coinciding with the heyday of the district general hospital and certainly of Wexham Park Hospital. Paul was born in south London

Lawrence Herbert Hansen was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand in 1929 and after early education at Palmerston Boys' High School entered the University of Otago Medical School, qualifying in 1955. After early hospital appointments in Wellington he came to England to work as surgical registrar at

Born on 10 January 1942, Gerhard Rudolf Jatzko was a Professor of Surgery in Klagenfurt, Austria and an expert in gastric and colorectal cancer. He was awarded the FRCS *ad eudum* in May 2000 and sadly died, aged 60 years, in (or around) June 2002.

Bernard Hand was born on 21 November 1919. His father, Ernest Francis Hand, was an architect and his mother, Mary, née Searle, was the daughter of an engineer. He was descended from Sir William Hillary, founder of the lifeboat service; as a consequence he gave constant support to the RNLI throughout

'Sam' Mitchell was a consultant general surgeon in Swansea. He was born in Aberystwyth on 30 May 1926, where his father, Samuel, and mother, Doris née Finlay, were school teachers. He was educated at the County School in Aberystwyth and Cardiff University. His junior posts were on the professorial u

Robert Thorlakson was a leading Winnipeg surgeon. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Paul Henrik Thorbjorn Thorlakson, a physician and chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, and his wife Gladys. Robert and his twin brother Ken were raised and educated in Winnipeg. Thorlakson served dur

Michael William Noel Ward was a general and colorectal surgeon in Enfield. He studied at Oxford University and trained in medicine at University College Hospital (UCH), London. He did house jobs at UCH and passed the fellowship of the college in 1978. A consultant general and colorectal surgeon at C

Allan Clain was a consultant general surgeon at Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham. The son of Louis Clain, an accountant, and Lily Clain née Rose, a housewife, he was born on 21 March 1922 at Muizenberg, a seaside town near Cape Town, South Africa. He qualified in medicine in 1944 from Cape Town Univ