Born in South Africa, he was educated at the Diocesan College (Bishops) at Rondebosch, where he excelled as an all-round sportsman, and won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. Here he graduated in 1938, and also boxed for the university. He took his clinical training at Guy's Hospital, qualified in 1941

Fergus Ferguson was a consultant urologist in Wellington, New Zealand. He was born in Auckland to David Ferguson, a solicitor, and his wife, Hazel (née Buckland), the family moving to Wellington when he was four. He had three sisters - Barbara, Janet and Susan. He attended Wadestown Primary School a

Alder was born in Victoria, Australia and educated at Melbourne graduating from the University in 1949. After holding resident posts at the Prince Henry (1949-50) and Royal Children's (1951) hospitals, he came to England in 1953, served as Nuffield Demonstrator of Anatomy at Oxford, and took the Fel

Alec Badenoch was born in Banff on 23 June 1903, the son of John Alexander Badenoch, a chartered accountant, and Georgina Dingwall Joiner, daughter of a master mariner. He was educated at Banff Academy and went on the Marischal College, Aberdeen, to read English Literature, but later changed to medi

Geoffrey Duncan Chisholm was born on 30 September 1931 at Hawera, North Island New Zealand. He was the third son of Arthur Chisholm, manager of the Meat Board, and his wife Ellen Marion, née Friston. His family had emigrated some eighty years before from Cannich, Glen Affric in the Scottish Highland

Sean Vesey was a consultant urologist on Merseyside. He was born on 2 July 1954 and studied medicine at University College Cork, qualifying in 1979. After completing his basic surgical training, he went to London in 1984 to the Institute of Urology and then continued his specialist training in Taunt

Born on 29 March 1910, the third child of David Shackman, a manufacturing jeweller and diamond merchant, Ralph was educated at the Grocers' Company School and St Bartholomew's Hospital. Before the second world war he was the resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary Sheffield where he was enc

Robert George Nighy Thomson, always known as Bob, was a urologist for Preston and Chorley hospitals. He was born in Northern Ireland on 23 May 1935. His father, Douglas Charles Thomson, was an electrical engineer; his mother, Margaret Elsie Thomson née Nighy, was a nurse. He grew up in Weybridge, wh

Ivan Ballantyne Tait was a consultant in charge of genitourinary medical services at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He was born on 14 September 1928 in Stepps, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father, also Ivan Tait, was a civil engineer; his mother was Elise Alexander Tait née Forsyth. He studied medicine at t

Geddes received his medical education at Birmingham University, qualifying MB ChB in 1958, passed the conjoint diploma in the same year, and obtained his Fellowship in 1964. After house posts at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, Birmingham, he was surgical registrar at Birmingham Children's Hospital and s

David Richard John qualified MB BS in 1955 having studied at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, and gained his Fellowship in 1963. After junior posts at St Peter's Hospital and the Institute of Urology he became a surgical registrar at the Charing Cross and Royal Masonic Hospitals, before be

Dan Lenaghan was born on 5 September 1925 in Creswick, Victoria, Australia, the son of Richard Lenaghan, a farmer, and Josephine, née Downey. Dan was the eldest of nine children, three others of whom entered the medical profession. He was educated at the state primary school in Tourello, before a ju