Born in Rochdale, Lancashire, on 19 May 1947, Richard Harold Lye's father Vincent was a technical salesman. His mother was Agnes née Ashurst. He was educated at Rochdale Convent Preparatory School, Bury Grammar School for Boys, and Manchester University. There he completed an honours BSc degree in physiology and won the Sydney Renshaw senior prize in physiology, which he followed with an MSc in neurophysiology, before completing his medical studies. He did house jobs at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and then did a year in general practice, before deciding on a career in surgery. He spent a year as a surgical registrar at Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham, and a further year in the Birmingham Children's Hospital in 1976, from which he passed the FRCS. He was subsequently based in Manchester, as a neurosurgeon. He married a Miss Archibald, a doctor's daughter, in 1970 and they had two sons. He enjoyed cross-country running and hill walking. He died on 15 May 2000.