John Carron Brown, known to his colleagues as ‘JCB’, was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Norwich. He was born in Sutton, Surrey, on 29 June 1925, the older son of Cecil Carron Brown, a general practitioner, and Jessamy Harper, a solicitor. Educated first at Homefield Preparatory Schoo

Calbert Inglis Phillips was a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh. An only son of the manse, he was born in Glasgow on 20 March 1925, the son of the Rev David Horner Phillips and Margaret Calbert Phillips née Inglis. The family moved to Aberdeen in 1938 and the young Phillips a

John Alexander-Williams was one of the country's best known gastroenterological surgeons noted not only for his surgical skill, teaching and many research contributions, but also for his *bonhomie* and *joie de vivre*, making him the life and soul of any meeting. John, often affectionately known

Rosemary Helen MacNaughton Adams was a consultant in the accident and emergency department at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. She was born in Edinburgh on 26 April 1926, the second child and eldest daughter of Thomas MacNaughton Davie and Lilias Tweedie Davie née Henderson. She was brought up in B

Sir John Cecil Nicholson Wakeley was a consultant general surgeon in Cheshire. He was born in London on 27 August 1926, the first of three boys of Cecil Pembrey Grey Wakeley and Elizabeth Muriel Wakeley née Nicholson-Smith. At the time of John's birth, his father was a surgeon and on the staff at Ki

John Pendower was a consultant surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, London and Mayday Hospital, Croydon. He was born on 6 August 1927, less than ten years after the end of the First World War; his father had been a teenage infantryman on the Somme. He grew up through turbulent and exciting times, and

William Milo Keynes was an honorary consultant surgeon at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and subsequently a writer and medical editor. He was born on 9 August 1924, the third son of Sir Geoffrey Keynes, a former vice president of the College, and Margaret Elizabeth née Darwin, a descendant of Char

Sir William Slack, known as Willie to his friends and colleagues (but always William to his wife), was a much-admired surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital who served as a surgeon to the Queen for 15 years between 1975 and 1990. He was born on 22 February 1925 to Cecil Moorhouse Slack, who was awarde

Mike Ward, a pioneering climber and expert on altitude medicine and physiology, and a member of the 1953 expedition team which made the first ascent of Everest, was a consultant surgeon in London’s East End. He was born in London on 26 March 1925, the son of Wilfred Arthur Ward, a civil servant in M

Robert Hubert Bonfield Mills was born at Merthyr Tydfil and educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and University College Hospital, graduating MB BCh in 1946. After national service in the Royal Navy he entered general practice in Merthyr Tydfil. Having obtained his Fellowship in 1953, he left ge

Sir Rodney Sweetnam was undoubtedly the doyen of orthopaedic surgery of his generation. He had many talents. Foremost, he was a natural surgeon, gifted with great operative dexterity. He was also a pioneer in the research and management of bone tumours, and, thirdly, was an outstanding committee cha

Alan Richardson was a consultant neurosurgeon at Atkinson Morley's Hospital, London. He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, on 21 August 1926, the youngest of four sons of William Richardson OBE, company secretary for an oil company, and his wife, Daisy. He was educated at St Egbert's Roman Catholic Sch