Born on 20 January 1920 the son of Walter S Turnbull of Neville's Cross, an official of the Durham County Council, he was educated at the Johnston Grammar School, Durham and at Newcastle Medical School. He qualified with second-class honours in 1942, and served as house surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was then commissioned as a naval surgeon in the fleet air arm and served through the remainder of the war till 1946. He was appointed surgical registrar at the Newcastle Infirmary in 1946, and took the Fellowship in 1948 though not previously a Member. He emigrated to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1950, and began to build up a successful practice there. He visited England in 1952.