Brian Bliss was a consultant vascular and general surgeon for Plymouth Hospitals. He was born on 21 June 1933 in Ilford, Essex, the son of Albert Reginald Bliss, a post office engineer, and Doris Alexandra Bliss née Young, a telephonist. As a child Brian’s life was dominated by the Blitz and two per

Douglas George Arnott Eadie was a consultant surgeon at the London Hospital. He was born on 16 June 1931, the son of Herbert Arnott Eadie, a general practitioner in Leeds, and Hannah Sophia née Wingate. His father died when Douglas was a year old and he was brought up by his step-father, Sir Raymond

Michael Reilly was born in Sheringham, Norfolk, on 30 August 1913, several weeks post-mature. This procrastination was to be a feature of his life. There was a suggestion that he should be christened 'Fabius', after the great Roman general Fabius Maximus Cunctator, but he was saddled with the family

Lindsay Black was superintendent of the Westland Hospital, New Zealand, and orthopaedic surgeon to all the west coast hospitals on the South Island. He was born in Auckland on 20 November 1914, the third child of Wilfred Alick Black, a solicitor, and Linda née Culpan. He was educated at King's Colle

Sudhansu Bimal Biswas was born in the Tateswar district of Noakhali, India, on 17 August 1933, the son of Kumar Aswini Biswas. Bimal was educated at Khandal School, Tateswar, and the medical school of the University of Calcutta. He won college scholarships in his last three years, along with the fou

Born in Sandwich, Kent, on 30 September 1910, John Richard Rose's father, William Richard Rose, was a wholesale grocer, JP, county councillor and was twice Mayor of Sandwich. His mother was Beatrice Matilda Paragreen, a musician and poet, and a governor of St Thomas's Hospital. He was educated at Si

Niblock was born on 12 September 1907 at Canford Cliffs, Bournemouth, the son of Lt Col William James Niblock, IMS, sometime Professor of Surgery at Madras Medical College. He came of a distinguished family of medical men, whose names appear in the family tree for 200 years: among them were Sir Edwa

John Lloyd Provan was born on 9 August 1931 in Newport, England. His father was Andrew Lloyd, a chief chemist for the Milk Marketing Board, and his mother was Gwyneth Mary Evans. He attended Adams' Grammar School, Newport, Shropshire, from 1939 to 1945. From there he went to King's College School, W

Dilwyn Price received his medical education at Newcastle University, qualified MB BS there in 1970 and obtained his Fellowship in 1975. After a period as a registrar with the Newcastle Area Health Authority he moved into general practice at Shotley Bridge, Consett, County Durham and also worked as a

Robert Shannon was born on 10 May 1928 in Brisbane, Australia, the son of Reuben Samuel Shannon, a company manager, and Muriel Adeline, née Bone. He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and Queensland University where he graduated MB BS in 1950, proceeded to the MS in 1955 and gained the Fellowsh

Keith Franklin Drysdale Sweetman was born in Perth, Western Australia, on 5 February 1914. His father was Joseph Franklin, a hardware merchant, who married Gladys Edith Drysdale. His great grandfather arrived in Western Australia as a civilian in 1834 from the United Kingdom but nothing is known of

William O'Flynn was born in County Limerick on 12 April 1927, into a family with a long tradition in medicine as general practitioners. Unfortunately no details of his forbears are available. After education at Presentation College, Bray, County Wicklow he entered the National University of Ireland