Uche Charles Aghadiuno was born in Lagos, Nigeria, on 27 November 1952. His father is a company director and his uncle, and later his sister, Stella, qualified in medicine. His schooling in Nigeria was interrupted by the civil war from 1967 to 1970 during which time he worked with the International Red Cross in refugee camps. He completed his education at St Gregory's College, Lagos, and then, in England at Stonyhurst College, Blackburn, before entering Trinity College, Dublin, before coming to the College in Lincoln's Inn Fields to attend the basic science course, after which he passed his primary in 1982. He then held training posts mainly in the Norwich area and gained his FRCS in 1985. He showed great promise of a successful career in surgery and had made a particular study of computer programming and design. He listed his hobbies as squash and athletics. Tragically he was killed in a car crash on 1 January 1986 when on leave in Nigeria.