Valentine Logue was one of the most distinguished neurosurgeons of his generation. He will be remembered principally for his determined advocacy of the place of research in the training of young neurosurgeons. He was himself a meticulous and careful surgeon, notable not only for his superb operative technique, but also for his attention to the pre-operative assessment of his patients and to their post-operative care. He was a neurologist of magnificence, whose examinations would often reveal nuances that had escaped others. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1913, the second of three brothers, coming to London in 1922 with his family. His father, a pioneer in speech therapy who numbered among his patients the Duke of York, later King George the Sixth, encouraged him to pursue a career in medicine. He trained in London, at King's College and St George's Hospital, qualifying in 1936. His first interest was in general surgery and, after the usual training posts, he became a wartime consultant at St George's in 1940, serving through the heavy air raids on London. In 1941, he met Wylie McKissock, and became fascinated by the challenges of neurosurgery. He spent two and a half years training under McKissock, who had derived his own techniques from experiences with Horrax in Boston and Olivecrona in Sweden. Logue then served as a neurosurgeon in the Royal Army Medical Corps, primarily in the Far East, returning to Atkinson Morley's Hospital in London to join McKissock, who had set up a busy neurological service there. Further training was augmented by a tour of neurosurgical centres in the United States. In 1948, he was appointed consultant neurosurgeon at Atkinson Morley's and Maida Vale Hospitals. A busy period of general neurosurgery followed. In 1957 he left Atkinson Morley's to join the consultant staff of the Middlesex Hospital, where he taught undergraduates. He had long wished to develop academic interests in neurosurgery, and in 1965 he was given the opportunity to found and direct a department of neurosurgical studies at the National Hospital, Queen Square, the oldest neurological establishment in Britain. A titular professorship in 1968 was followed by a university chair in neurosurgery in 1974, when a generous private benefactor enabled the establishment of a university department, the first university chair of neurosurgery in England. In the succeeding years he took an active part in the evolution of the European Association of Neurological Surgeons. He had always emphasised the importance of careful documentation, and his own carefully thought out papers reflected his immense clinical experience. Especially noteworthy were works on arteriovenous malformation of the spinal cord, on early surgery for intercranial aneurysm, and on syringomyelia. His trainees were relatively few in number, but to them he conveyed his own philosophy - scrupulous care of the patient, consideration for the relatives, and absolute dedication to sound operative technique. Having set his department on a sound footing with research units in cerebrovascular disease and neuro-oncology, he retired from practice in 1977. In 1993, he received one of the medals of honour of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies from the hand of the President, one of his own trainees. In retirement, he spent a good deal of time in Cornwall, enjoying bird watching, travelling with this pursuit as far as Siberia and South America. In 1944, he married Anne Bolton, herself later a consultant in child psychiatry at the Middlesex Hospital. They had two daughters, one of whom predeceased him.