Peter French was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St George's Hospital, London. He was born on 2 July 1921, in Temple Fortune, north London, the eldest son of the reverend Reginald French and his wife, Gertrude née Haworth. His father was the local vicar, later moving to Stepney in east London, a

Irvine Smith was a consultant surgeon to Burton-on-Trent General Hospital. He was born in Ilkley on 5 December 1919. His father, Fredric Battinson Smith, was a forensic pathologist who had won the Military Cross in the first world war and later advised the Ministry of Health on setting up a national

Michael Roger Williams was born in London on 30 March 1921. He was the eldest son of Muriel, née Buckley, the daughter of Lord Wrenbury, Justice of Appeal, and Bernard Williams, consultant surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital. He attended Rose Hill Preparatory School in Banstead, followed by Oundle Schoo

John Andrew, also known as 'Tony', was born on 2 February 1922 in Poulton-le-Flyde, Lancashire. He was the son of Percy Andrew, a general practitioner, and Ida Louise née Rishworth, a first-generation American, whom his father had met as a nurse in France during the first world war. His grandfather

Anthony Ashford Hodges was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Great Yarmouth, Gorleston-on-Sea and Lowestoft. Very general in his approach to orthopaedic conditions, he particularly enjoyed performing joint replacements. He was a unique character, and had an unusual upbringing and an eventful life.

John Golding was born in London on 15 April 1921 and his early schooling was at Hilltop Court School, Seaford, and then Marlborough. From there he went to Caius College, Cambridge, and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, graduating in 1944. He did his National Service in the RAMC and in 1946 was