Philip Rowland Allison, the son of J R Allison, was born at Selby, Yorkshire, on June 2 1907, and was educated at Hymers College, Hull. He was one of a family of five, two others of whom became doctors. He entered the Leeds Medical School in 1924 and had a brilliant career, taking the BSc with first

Solomon Reuben Taitz studied at the University of Rand in South Africa, and gained the MB BCh in 1940. In 1951 he passed both the Membership and the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to South Africa and specialized in thoracic surgery. In October 1970 the College

Norman Barrett was born in Adelaide, Australia, on 16 May 1903. He was one of the great pioneers of thoracic surgery. After spending his early years in Australia he came to England and was educated at Eton where he was distinguished in both academic and athletic fields. He proceeded to Trinity Colle

William Corbitt Barnsley was educated at South Shields High School and graduated in medicine from Armstrong College, Newcastle upon Tyne, where, as an undergraduate, he won many prizes and medals. After a period at Newcastle General Hospital, where he gained general experience in surgery, he proceed

Judson Tyndale Chesterman was born on 16 February 1903, the fourth son of a Bath solicitor, William Thomas Chesterman, and his wife, Elizabeth, nee Clapton. He was educated at Monkton Combe School and distinguished himself in his medical training at Bristol by winning many of the prizes including go

Cyril John Evans was born in Llandysul, Cardiganshire on 12 June 1915, the son of William, the postmaster, and Letitia (Morgan). He was educated at University College, Cardiff and University College Hospital, London, qualifying MRCS LRCP in 1938 and graduating MB BS London 1939. He trained in surger

Wilfred Grundhill was born on 2 March 1920 in Brakpan, where he matriculated at the local high school in 1938. His father had emigrated from England and was employed in the gold mining industry; he developed a lung problem and his son's interest in thoracic surgery was nurtured by this misfortune. H

Born in 1929, Hakim Abdel Malak Samaan studied medicine in London, qualifying MB, BS from Guy's Hospital in 1958. He became surgical registrar in the thoracic unit of the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and passed the FRCS Ed in 1962. Moving to London he held appointments at the Prince of Wales' Hospit

Geoffrey Flavell was born on 23 February 1913 in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Alfred William Flavell, an industrialist, and Elizabeth, née Spry-Harris, the daughter of a gold prospector. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School, Otago Boys' High School and Otago University, where he read

Herbert Michael Bradmore was a consultant thoracic surgeon at St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth. He was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, on 26 April 1917. His father, Herbert Ernest, came from Rhodesia, where he had business interests. His mother, Emily Jane Brownlie, was the granddaughter of the Keeper o

Edward Delos Churchill was born in Chenoa, Illinois, in 1895. In 1920 he graduated from Harvard Medical School and spent the next four years at the Massachusetts General Hospital. For the next three years he was a Dalton Scholar with Cecil Drinker, and then held a Moseley Travelling Fellowship, whic

It could be said that had Tom Smiley not been a cigarette smoker in 1941, his patients and colleagues, thoracic surgery and his own family and local community would never have known him as a fine surgeon, husband and father and dedicated churchman, for it was a cigarette-case in his breast-pocket wh