Michael Selby Watson was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, London and a founder member of the British Elbow and Shoulder Society. He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne but moved with his family to South Africa at the age of five. After several years in South Africa, they returned to England and Michael went to Quarry Bank School in Liverpool. His best friend at school Phil Payne recalls ‘Michael arriving in a funny blazer and with a strange accent. His pale complexion prompted the unkind name “death warmed up” by fellow older pupil John Lennon.’ Phil remembers a first-year race, where the whole year lined up to race two miles. Michael won and marked his spot as an outstanding athlete. He continued running, competing for England in the 400 metres. A cartoon appeared in *The Liverpool Echo* of Michael running, which emphasised his energy and speed. He also excelled at languages, art and the sciences, winning prizes for each. While at school Michael joined the Scouts, rising to Queen Scout, one of the youngest Queen Scouts at that time. Winning a scholarship, he went to Caius College, Cambridge. He continued in the University athletics team and was awarded a blue. Injury stopped him from competing in the 400 metres at the 1960 Olympics His clinical studies were at the Westminster Hospital in London. After qualifying, Michael signed up to a graduate recruitment scheme with the Royal Air Force for a five-year commission as an acting pilot officer, and he visited many countries including Germany and Sweden. Michael passed his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England at RAF Hospital Wegberg in West Germany, having already passed his membership of the Royal College of Physicians a year earlier. However, he departed from the RAF after completing his five-year term, as he was keen to resume his orthopaedic training in London, where he secured a position as an orthopaedic registrar. In 1974, he was promoted to lecturer under the newly appointed Lipmann (Lippy) Kessel, whose clinical base was initially at Fulham Hospital before relocating to Charing Cross Hospital. It was here that Michael’s academic career flourished. Seven highly referenced papers followed, between 1977 and 1996, focusing on the transacromial approach to the shoulder and acromioclavicular joint degeneration and rotator cuff tears, published in top medical journals. At that time Charles Neer in New York published his landmark paper on ‘Anterior acromioplasty for the chronic impingement syndrome in the shoulder: a preliminary report’ (*J Bone Joint Surg Am* 1972 Jan;54[1]:41-50). Around the same time Michael’s published research with Lipmann Kessel was proving that arthritis of the acromioclavicular joint with its associated osteophytes was a major cause of rotator cuff tears in the shoulder. Roger Emery recalls that ‘Michael managed to create a bridge between Europe and the United States when his ex-teacher Lipmann Kessel and Charles Neer were literally poles apart. In addition, he was one of the few orthopaedic surgeons who reached out to continental Europe and secured a place for the UK within the fledgling organisation of SECEC (Société Européenne de Chururgie de l’Épaule et du Coude – the European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow).’ It was a consequence of Michael’s collaboration with the United States that he became one of the first British shoulder surgeons to be elected to the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons as an honorary member. One of the other problems Michael had to contend with was the conflict between Lipmann Kessel (at Fulham Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore), who had developed the Kessel constrained total shoulder replacement (TSR) and Alan Lettin (at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore), who had developed the Stanmore constrained TSR: a real diplomatic challenge at the time. Michael was very much in the Lipmann Kessel camp at that time. Ian Bayley has observed: ‘Michael was very instrumental in Lippy’s development of the Kessel constrained TSR and he inserted a prototype into a cadaver, making the comment that he was able to suspend the body part off the Kessel glenoid screw, highlighting just how strong the screw fixation was.’ After his appointment as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Guy’s Hospital in 1977, Michael published two excellent books – *Practical shoulder surgery* (London, Grune & Stratton, 1985), a multi-author reference for inexperienced shoulder surgeons, and *Surgical disorders of the shoulder* (Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1990) for more experienced surgeons. Michael’s artistic skills were highlighted in these books as the illustrations were personally drawn by him. Roger Emery recalls: ‘London was a difficult place to train with very little exchange between programs and the Thames creating a total barrier. I was granted “permission” to go and watch Michael do a Bristow procedure in around 1985, a shoulder stabilisation operation that Michael promoted both clinically and in one of his papers. More memorable was seeing an arthroscopic subacromial decompression carried out by Harvard Ellman at Michael’s invitation at Guy’s in 1989, the first arthroscopic shoulder operation to be carried out in the UK. I recall walking back across the Thames having been very disappointed as [I] could not see a thing.’ On 3 November 1986, after the very successful Third International Conference on Surgery of the Shoulder in Fukuoka, Japan, Michael wrote to three of his closest shoulder colleagues Ian Bayley (at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital), Steve Copeland (at Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading) and Angus Wallace (at Nottingham) the following letter that started ‘Dear colleagues, I think the time has come to take the bull by the horns and seriously consider the nuts and bolts of setting up a British Shoulder Surgery Association.’ As a consequence, four of the five founding members of the British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS) – Michael Watson, Ian Bayley, Steve Copeland and Angus Wallace – met in Michael’s Harley Street rooms in London on 28 March 1987 and discussed the setting up of a society. BESS was born. Michael’s artistic skills resulted in him creating the first BESS logo – a humerus with a serpent winding around it – inspired by the serpent-entwined staff of Asclepius, god of medicine and healing, and Andry’s tree, the bent tree supported by a splint, used to symbolise orthopaedics. Michael was elected as the third president of BESS (serving from 1993 to 1995) after Willie Souter and Ian Bayley, his appointment being postponed by his activities with the SECEC. Michael subsequently ran the seventh BESS congress at the Connaught Hall in London that was combined with some SECEC papers in order to foster European collaboration. Michael was an excellent linguist, and this resulted in him developing friendships with shoulder surgeons across Europe. He formed a particular friendship with Didier Patte, who wrote a chapter in Michael’s book *Surgical disorders of the shoulder* before he died in 1989. Didier Patte (shoulder surgeon) with Norbert Gschwend (elbow surgeon), set up SECEC in 1987 shortly after the Third International Conference of the Shoulder in Fukuoka, Japan. Norbert Gschwend was appointed the first SECEC president (from 1987 to 1988) and Michael Watson was the second president (1989). During his presidency, Michael worked hard to bring in membership of the SECEC from northern Europe and Scandinavia. He had formed friendships with Lennart Hovelius, Richard Wallenstein, Jan Thorling, Rolf Ideberg and Bo Lundberg (Sweden) and Otto Sneppen and Jens Soejbjerg (Denmark) and he was instrumental in drawing them all into the SECEC. Michael met Angela at Guy’s Hospital, where she had trained and worked as a doctor. They married in 1986. At that stage he had had to stop doing paediatric and spinal surgery, which he enjoyed doing, as the demand for his shoulder expertise left no time to do anything else. He moved his private practice from Harley Street to London Bridge Hospital to be nearer Guy’s, which saved travelling time. Angela and Michael attended the Japan International Conference on Surgery of the Shoulder meeting together in 1986, which gave Angela the opportunity to meet up with Michael’s shoulder colleagues, many of whom became close family friends. Michael was very much a family man, and he attended many of the international meetings (Ottawa, Paris, New York, La Quinta) with Angela and their three young sons. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1997, taking early retirement in 1998 after total body irradiation and autologous stem cell graft. Michael remained interested in shoulders and attended further BESS and International Congress on Shoulder and Elbow Surgery meetings in the UK (Edinburgh, Warwick, Glasgow). Angela has noted ‘Our medical books at the time said myeloma was invariably fatal within two years. Michael was Guy’s Hospital’s “miracle” longest surviving myeloma patient. Michael was a gentle, kind, extremely knowledgeable and able man, who excelled at anything he put his mind to. He was admired and loved by all who had the opportunity to know him. He has left a huge void in our lives.’ Michael died on 31 October 2024 and was survived by Angela, his wife, and their sons Michael, Charles and George, and his daughter Karin and son David from his previous marriage.