Johan Wilhelm Sture Hjalmarson Lindahl was born on 8 October 1906 in South Kensington, London, the eldest son of Bror Hjalmar Lindahl, a practitioner of Swedish remedial treatment and massage and Anna Isabella, née Uberg, previously a senior customs official at Norrkoping, Sweden. He was educated at Colet Court and St Paul's School, West Kensington, before going to Trinity College, Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital. After qualifying in 1931 he continued to work at St Thomas's as casualty officer, house surgeon, senior casualty officer, surgical registrar and registrar to the ear, nose and throat department. During this time he came under the influence of Percy Sargent, Philip Mitchener and Walter Howarth. At the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps serving from 1939 to 1945 and reaching the rank of Major. He was with the British Expeditionary Force in France and later served in Gibraltar and West Africa. After the war he joined the Territorial Army, initially with 24th City of London General Hospital and later as Colonel of 17th London General Hospital. After demobilisation in 1945 he was appointed consultant surgeon to the ear, nose and throat department of the London Hospital and also to the London Chest Hospital and King Edward Memorial Hospital, Ealing. He served as secretary to the Section of Otology of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1954 to 1956 and as President of the Section of Laryngology from 1969 to 1970. He wrote extensively on the treatment of carcinoma of the middle ear and meatus and on the use of ultrasound in the treatment of Menière's disease. After retiring from practice he went to live in Kingsbridge, Devon where he was able to enjoy golf, fishing and water-colour painting. He married Eileen Strain in 1940 and is survived by her and two daughters of the marriage, one of whom is a qualified nurse. He died on 7 January 1989, aged 82.