James Arnold was born on 5 March 1925 in Salisbury, Rhodesia, and his later education was at Michaelhouse, Natal, where he matriculated in 1942. His father was at that time in the British South African Police Force and he himself served in the Rhodesian Army from 1943 to 1946. He was seriously wounded in the leg in Italy in 1944 and spent a year in a military hospital near Johannesburg before entering medical school in Cape Town. On graduating in December 1951 he was a resident at the Groote Schuur Hospital before coming to England for postgraduate training. He undertook both general and orthopaedic registrar appointments and then completed the final FRCS in 1958. While working as orthopaedic registrar at Preston Royal Infirmary he took the MCh Orth in 1959. He returned to Groote Schuur Hospital for a short time before undergoing further orthopaedic training in England where he held senior registrar appointments in orthopaedics at King's College Hospital and the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Exeter. In December 1963 he returned to South Africa in private orthopaedic practice at Ladysmith, with part-time hospital appointments in Northern Natal and with the Natal Cripple Care Organisation. He also treated many Zulu patients with hip disorders. Apart from a very busy practice and demanding main hospital appointments, Adams did a great deal of work at outlying hospitals. He also served in the regiment Noord-Natal of the Citizen Force and gained experience in the treatment of war wounds in Mozambique and Israel. He was a keen organiser of orthopaedic meetings in Ladysmith which were attended by surgeons from many far distant towns. His main hobbies were fishing and shooting. He died on 5 November 1983 and was survived by his wife Barbara and children Julian, Annabel, Alexander and Jacqueline.