‘You can teach a monkey to operate, but you can’t teach a monkey when not to operate.’ Many, especially on the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies’ training courses, will remember John Garfield’s pithy one-liners. That was the epitome of John – serious, but everything had to be fun and w

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

Dr Jim Martin died after illness in March this year. He had retired after a lifetime of service being in the field of Ophthalmology since 1954. He was a resident at the Eye and Ear Hospital in 1954 to 55. He travelled to the United Kingdom in 1957 and was on the staff at Moorfields from 1957 to 1961

John Norton Taylor was an Australian ophthalmologist who contributed to improvements in the treatment of oculomotor nerve palsy. He was born in Adelaide, Australia, and was a direct descendant of Eliza Sturt, the sister of Captain Charles Sturt, a prominent Australian explorer in the early 19th cent

Robin Downie was a consultant general surgeon in Liverpool. He was born on 2 May 1927 in Hightown, Merseyside, the son of a dentist. He was educated at Holmwood School, Formby, and Shrewsbury, where he excelled at sport. He then carried out his military service, during which time he took a six-month

Brian Pearson was a consultant general surgeon in Ilford, London. He could be described in terms of one of his interests: he was like a good wine, he improved over time. Unpretentious, with a soft trace of his Birmingham-derived accent, he had a sly sense of humour, and did not have all his other ma

As a surgeon – from his birth in New Delhi, India, his training in England to a career in New Zealand – Roy Chowdhury occupied the world of medicine more than most. Salil Roy Chowdhury (widely known as Roy) was born in 1928, the sixth child of Abala Bondhu Roy Chowdhury, a manager of a colliery i

Mercer Rang was an eminent paediatric orthopaedic surgeon. He was born in London in 1933 and studied medicine at University College London. He was a house officer in London and then a resident at Rochester. He went on to complete two years National Service, as a command surgical specialist in Northe

John Doyle, former Director of Vascular Surgery at St Vincent's Public Hospital and Medical Director at St Vincent's Private has died, after a lifetime of exemplary service and outstanding leadership to both hospitals. I first met John in 1964 and over the 50 years since then he became in turn to me

A leading urologist of his own generation and younger brother-in-law of the urologist James Peters (deceased), Jim O'Collins contributed to the remarkable progress in treating the urinary system made during his years in that specialised field of surgery. Born on December 20, 1932 James Patrick O'

Bernard Williams was born on 20 April 1932 in Stockport, Cheshire, the son of Francis Bernard Williams, a shoe retailer, and Hope Johnson, the daughter of the sea captain and author Walter Rise Hawkins Johnson. He was educated at Stretford Grammar School and the University of Birmingham, where he qu

Morris Hensman Heycock, or ‘Bob’ or ‘Bobby’ as his family, friends and colleagues knew him, was a consultant plastic surgeon in Hull. He was born in Dublin on 31 October 1928. His father, Morris Sadler Heycock, read natural sciences at King’s College, Cambridge and was a chemist before becoming head