Kalyanakit Kitiyakara was born in Bangkok on 20 September 1929, the son of His Serene Highness Prince Nakhatra of Chandaburi who was later to become Thai Ambassador to the Court of St James. His great grandfather was King Rama V, Chulalongkorn, his younger sister is Queen Sirikit and his brother-in-

Amarendra Sengupta was born in Calcutta, India, on 10 January 1933 and qualified MB, BS at the University of Calcutta in 1956. After holding junior appointments at the Christian Medical College in Vellore he came to England in 1958 to obtain further general surgical training in Swindon and Northampt

John Borrie was born and bred in Otago. In his formative years he excelled academically as well as on the sports field representing his college at cross-country running. He elected to follow in his father's footsteps and went on to Otago University to study medicine, graduating in 1938. During his t

Don Bennett was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Sydney Adventist Hospital. He was born on 14 April 1939 in Brisbane, the eldest son of Sir Arnold Lucas Bennett, a barrister, and his first wife Marjory (née Williams), who died when Don and his three siblings were very young. He was then raised

Alexander Falconer Grant was born on 1 February 1926 in Sydney, Australia. His father, Chesborough Grant, was a public servant and his mother, Henrietta, née Leary, a nursing sister. Both his brothers became surgeons and both were awarded the OBE. He attended North Sydney Boys' High School and Sydne

Alun Rees was a cardiothoracic surgeon based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. He was born on 14 June 1940 and gained his FRCS in 1970. He died on 12 April 2016 aged 75.

Born in Ceylon in 1949, Sabanathan qualified in 1972 and, after junior posts, came to England in 1977 to specialise in surgery. He was appointed consultant cardiothoracic surgeon to the Bradford Royal Infirmary in 1989, where he developed a number of ingenious new techniques, including a method of c

Lindsay Grigg undertook his training in Melbourne, and then went to London where he undertook training in cardiothoracic surgery before returning to Australia. He also worked for a few years in Uganda where he did thoracic surgery and wrote about management of pyopericardium. He worked for a y

Joseph Bernard Borman was born in Krugersdorp, South Africa on 3 July 1929. He was the son of Zalman Borman and his wife Leah née Berman. Both his parents were in business and his sister, Hannah, eventually qualified as a physiotherapist. Educated at Krugersdorp High School, he then proceeded to stu

Having obtained cardiothoracic training in London, and considerable experience working amid the Northern Ireland Conflict, Patrick Molloy returned to New Zealand in 1973 to develop and lead the South Island’s first cardiac surgery unit in Dunedin. With the appointment by the University of Otago to a

Little is known about David Chukuagugua Nwafo except that he qualified MB BS in 1960 and passed the College Fellowship in 1964. He worked at the Liverpool Cardio-Thoracic Surgical Centre and, at the time of his death in 1976, he held an appointment at the thoracic and cardiac surgical unit at Harefi

William Williams was a consultant surgeon in Coventry. He was born in Newport, Gwent, on 11 May 1928. His father, William George, was an engine driver. His mother was Lillian Hyacinth Maud née Jones, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Newport High School and Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, go