Alan Leask was born in Hong Kong on 19 October 1914. His father, William Laughton Leask, was an architect and civil engineer practising in Aberdeen and Hong Kong. His mother was Mabel née Beaton. His elder brother Laughton Rennie Leask was also a Fellow (qv *Lives of the Fellows* Volume 8, p.186). After preparatory school in Hong Kong, Alan attended the Edinburgh Academy, followed by Highgate School, London. He studied medicine at Guy's Hospital, where he was a keen member of the University of London Officer Training Corps, and completed junior posts in Blackburn, the National Temperance Hospital, London, and Leamington Spa, passing the FRCS in 1941. In 1941 he joined the RAMC, serving as a surgical specialist in North Africa, Italy and Austria. After the war, he went to Birmingham as a consultant at Selly Oak Hospital. He married a Miss Roberts in 1945. They had one daughter, who is a doctor. He died on 14 February 2001.