Peter Corfield was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, on 17 June 1922. Both parents were consultant analytical chemists, his father, Charles Edwin, being the editor of Martindale and the British Pharmacopoeia. He also lectured and examined at the University of London, as did his wife Ella, née Caird.

Geoff Smiddy was a senior surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary and a prolific author. He was born in Kendal on 4 January 1922. His father was a hotelier and his mother looked after a haberdashery shop. His was not an easy childhood – his father left the family home shortly after he was born and his mo

John Wedgwood Graham, the son of John Machefer Graham, a farmer and grazier, and of Ivy Maud (née Wedgwood), a descendant of Charles Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, was born on 1 June 1921 at Narrabri, New South Wales. His grandfather, John Bass Graham, was a medical graduate from Dublin who practised i

Charles Raymond Helsby was born on 13 February 1921 in St Helens, Lancs, the son of a local businessman, Frederick Johnson Helsby and his wife Emily, née Cawley. Following the local infant school he attended Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby and went on to the Liverpool Medical School. He qualified

Thomas Michael Hennebry was born in Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland in 1913, the son of Michael Hennebry, a wine importer. He was educated at Castleknock College, Dublin, and University College, Dublin. He qualified with honours in 1937, taking the McCardle prize in surgery and the O'Farrell gold

Munro Walker-Brash was a consultant general surgeon at Orpington and Sevenoaks hospitals. He was born in London on 15 November 1920, the second son of John Walker-Brash, a general practitioner, and his wife Gloria Lilian née Parker. He was educated privately at Colet Court in Hammersmith and Clivede