John Leslie was born in Bath on 22 December 1914. His father, George Herbert Leslie, was a schoolmaster and inspector of schools for the London County Council, having served in the Royal Artillery in the first world war and then with the Army Education Corps. His early education was at Wellington in Somerset and although he won a scholarship to Oxford, this could not be taken up owing to the recession at that time. He went to St Thomas's Hospital Medical School and graduated in 1937. Between that time and his emergency commission in the RAMC in September 1939 he held junior appointments at St Thomas's Hospital in the pathology and gynaecology departments, and as house surgeon at Taunton and Somerset Hospital, followed by a time at King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor. With his RAMC commission came an appointment as regimental medical officer to the Royal Dragoons, a post he held for four years, seeing active service with the 8th Army in the Middle East and then, graded as a surgeon, he landed with one of the earliest casualty clearing stations in Normandy after D-Day. With that unit and throughout the actual campaign in north west Europe he acquired great experience in the treatment of war casualties, and the quality of his work was commented on by Arthur Porritt, who was at that time consulting surgeon to 21st Army Group. After demobilisation he obtained a registrar appointment in general surgery at St Thomas's Hospital, including a demonstratorship in anatomy, and he obtained both the primary and final FRCS in 1946. After a further period as surgical registrar at St Thomas's Hospital he was appointed chief assistant to J C Barrett, VC FRCS, and Ernest Frizzelle, FRCS, at the Leicester Royal Infirmary in 1947. In the following year he was appointed consultant to the Leicester Royal Infirmary. He was also appointed clinical teacher in the Faculty of Medicine at Leicester University in September 1974 for a period of five years, and was actively involved with the St John Ambulance in Leicester. On 16 September 1939 he married Margaret (Peggy) Mary Metford, and they had two sons - Christopher, a development manager, and Nicholas, an architect - and two daughters, Joanna and Jane, both musicians. John played rugby football for his school first XV and for St Thomas's Hospital, and also played cricket for his school and later his village team. His principal recreations included fly fishing, golf and gardening. He died on 1 February 1995.