Dennis Stoker was a consultant radiologist at the Royal National Orthopaedic and St George’s hospitals, London. He was born in London, the son of George Morris Stoker, a general practitioner, and Elsie Margaret ‘Peggy’ Stoker née McQueen. He was educated at Oundle School and then studied medicine at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1951. After house posts at Guy’s, from 1952 to 1968 he was a physician in the medical branch of the Royal Air Force, the last four years as a consultant physician, retiring with the rank of wing commander. He then retrained as a radiologist, and in 1972 became a consultant in radiology, initially jointly at St George’s Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, and then full-time at the latter hospital. He retired in 1993, but returned to work at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital from 1997 to 2002. He was considered to be the doyen of British musculoskeletal radiology in the 1980s and 1990s, and was acknowledged as a true connoisseur of the interpretation of bone radiographs. Dennis contributed both nationally and internationally, generously imparting his knowledge to several generations of radiologists. He was dean of the Institute of Orthopaedics, University College London, from 1987 to 1990. Dennis published numerous papers, initially as a physician, but most notably as a musculoskeletal radiologist. He also authored and co-edited several books, including the third edition of *The radiology of skeletal disorders: exercises in diagnosis* (Churchill Livingstone, 1990). He was the main instigator and one of the founders in 1985 of the British Society of Skeletal Radiologists, and was made an honorary member of the European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology in 1993. Invited to be a member of the International Skeletal Society, he contributed well into his retirement. He was editor of the society’s journal *Skeletal Radiology* from 1984 to 1996. Dennis became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1976. At the Royal College of Radiologists, he was a council member, dean of the faculty of clinical radiology and vice president from 1989 to 1991. He was awarded the Knox medal of the Royal College of Radiologists in 1992. He was also vice president of the radiology section of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1978 to 1980. Dennis’ interests outside radiology included his own family genealogy, medical history, philology and gardening. He married Anne Forster in 1951 (who sadly predeceased him), with whom he had four children – Claire, Philip, Neil and Catherine – eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren. He remarried in 1999 and was survived by his second wife, Sheila. I feel privileged to have known Dennis and will always value the knowledge he imparted.